Knowledge of HIV/AIDS & Woman’s Status in Decision-making in India in Women Ages 15-49

Objective:  The global HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to affect people around the world.  India has the largest burden of HIV/AIDS, with about 40% women.  Women in India also maintain a low status in society, with minimal autonomy.  The objective of this study was to better understand the determinants of knowledge of AIDS in Indian women as well as its interaction with their decision-making powers for health care.

Methods:  This study used the 1998-2000 Demographic Health Survey with India’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2).  Data were collected on 90,300 ever-married women of ages 15-49.  Statistical analyses were conducted in SAS 9.1 and included descriptive analysis, univariate analysis, and multiple logistic regression.

Results:  In the sample, 40,777 women had ever heard of AIDS.  Univariate analysis suggested significant crude association for who decides to on obtaining health care, age, regions, residence, education, partner’s education, religion, ethnicity, marital status, pregnancy, recent health facility visits, working status, family planning discussions with partners, condom knowledge, and household standard of living.  Adjusting for covariates in the adjusted multiple logistic regression revealed that women who were the sole decision-makers for their health care remained significantly more likely to have knowledge of AIDS compared to women whose husbands made their decisions for health care, although the odds ratio decreased slightly with adjusting (1.71 versus 1.16).

Conclusion:  The study allows for better understanding of the role that women’s autonomy and decision-making power play in women in India for having knowledge of HIV/AIDS.  Intervention and education programs can integrate the findings of this study to strengthen and improve methods their effectiveness.