MOSCOW, November 30, 2009. In anticipation of the World AIDS Day Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data describing what Russians know about HIV infection, whether they think the Russian government pays enough attention to this problem, from what sources Russians know about HIV/AIDS and what kind of information they are lacking.
Six percent of Russians have HIV-positive friends. Most of them live in North-Western Federal District and with good financial income (10% for each). Most of respondents (76%) report they do not have such friends: they are basically residents of Volga District and Urals (85 and 82% respectively), as well as Russians with poor financial income (79%).
There is a positive dynamics of the awareness of Russians about HIV infection and HIV transmission methods. Respondents increasingly admit that the infection can be avoided if you have a steady sexual partner (from 70 to 81% over a year), and if you use condoms (from 52 to 67%). More Russians know that even those who are healthy can be HIV-positive (from 65% in April previous year to 74% currently), as well as the fact that HIV cannot be transmitted through mosquito bites (from 46 to 51%). As before, most of respondents know that you cannot get HIV/AIDS by eating together with HIV-positive individual (55%).
The most popular sources of information about HIV infection, as before, are social advertising on TV (48%) and HIV/AIDS related TV shows (43%, a year ago - 48%).Twenty-one percent of Russians know about the problem from posters and information materials in public medical facilities, 16% - from special HIV-oriented TV programs (a year ago - 21%), 15% - from medical radio programs (a year ago - 19%), 11% - from leaflets, 10% - in course of personal interaction. Rarer Russians mention commercial hospitals (4%) and helpline (2%) as a source of information about HIV/AIDS.
Our fellow-citizens often need more information about how to communicate with HIV-positive people and preventive measures against HIV infection (30% for each).Russians also mention such problems as transmission routes and effects of HIV infection (22% for each), what is AIDS (21%) and what is HIV (20%). Most of those who are interested to know more about that are respondents who know personally HIV-infected people and those who are AIDS sick.
More and more Russians are satisfied with a degree of the government's attention to HIV/AIDS problem (in March 2007 - 35%, now - 44%). Most of them are Russians aged 18-24 (50%). At the same time, the proportion of those who think that the government does not pay enough attention to this problem has been decreasing (from 52% to 43% respectively).
It should be noted that while most of respondents who are not personally familiar with HIV-infected people think that the Russian government puts enough attention to the problem (45%), those respondents who have HIV-positive friends tend to think that the government pays little attention to it (56%).
The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on November 7-8, 2009. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 140 sampling points in 42 regions of Russia. The margin of errordoes not exceed 3.4 %.
Do you personally know at least one HIV-infected individual? | ||
| November 2008 | November 2009 |
Yes | 4 | 6 |
No | 74 | 76 |
I do not know | 19 | 16 |
Other | 0 | 3 |
Hard to tell | 3 | 6 |
Assess the following statements: true or not true (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||
| March 2007 | April 2008 | November 2008 | November 2009 |
1. You can avoid HIV infection if you have a steady sexual partner, who are not HIV-infected |
| |||
True | 67 | 74 | 70 | 81 |
Not True | 17 | 11 | 13 | 9 |
Hard to tell | 16 | 15 | 16 | 10 |
2. You can avoid HIV infection by using condoms for each sexual contact |
| |||
True | 51 | 59 | 52 | 67 |
Not True | 25 | 18 | 25 | 17 |
Hard to tell | 25 | 22 | 23 | 16 |
3. A man who looks healthy can be HIV-positive |
| |||
True | 73 | 65 | 67 | 74 |
Not True | 8 | 11 | 13 | 11 |
Hard to tell | 18 | 24 | 21 | 15 |
4. HIV cannot be transmitted through mosquito bites |
| |||
True | 20 | 22 | 20 | 26 |
Not True | 50 | 46 | 50 | 51 |
Hard to tell | 30 | 32 | 30 | 24 |
5. You cannot get HIV by eating with HIV-infected person |
| |||
True | 18 | 17 | 15 | 22 |
Not True | 53 | 53 | 56 | 55 |
Hard to tell | 29 | 31 | 28 | 23 |
From which sources do you get information about HIV infection? | ||
| November 2008 | November 2009 |
Social advertising on TV | 48 | 48 |
Medical TV programs | 48 | 43 |
Special TV programs about HIV/AIDS | 21 | 16 |
Medical radio programs | 19 | 15 |
Posters and other information materials in public hospitals | 19 | 21 |
Friends, personal contacts | 11 | 10 |
Leaflets distributed on the streets | 8 | 11 |
Posters and other information materials in commercial hospitals | 6 | 4 |
Helpline | 1 | 2 |
Other | 6 | 4 |
Hard to tell | 1 | 9 |
Does the government pay enough attention to HIV/AIDS problem in our country? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||
| March 2007 | October 2007 | November 2008 | November 2009 |
Definitely, enough | 7 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
Rather enough | 28 | 30 | 32 | 36 |
Rather not enough | 32 | 33 | 27 | 32 |
Definitely not enough | 20 | 17 | 15 | 11 |
Hard to tell | 13 | 11 | 17 | 13 |
What of kind of HIV -oriented information are you lacking? | ||
| November 2008 | November 2009 |
HIV infection transmission routes | 18 | 22 |
HIV infection preventing measures | 29 | 30 |
HIV infection effects | 21 | 22 |
What is AIDS in general | 21 | 21 |
What id HIV in general | 20 | 20 |
About the interaction and communication with HIV-infected people | 34 | 30 |
I am not interested in this problem | 4 | 3 |
Other | 27 | 25 |
Hard to tell | 18 | 10 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or www.wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!