Public awareness of HIV epidemic in Ukraine: the newest research

Public awareness of HIV epidemic in Ukraine: the newest research within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Information Campaign «Don’t Give AIDS a Chance!»

We would like to draw your attention to the third wave of the unique and complex research conducted within the framework of the Ukrainian-German cooperation by the international sociological company GFK London commissioned by the Federal Government of Germany in order to evaluate knowledge, attitudes and behavior of the general population of Ukraine relating to HIV/AIDS. The research is all-Ukrainian by scope (with the special attention to the focus region of the Campaign – Dnipropetrovsk oblast), and the sample for Ukraine is representative for the population of Ukrainian settlements that are under control of the Ukrainian government by age, gender, ethnic origin and settlement according to the data of the State Statistic Service of Ukraine and the last population census. Totally, there were 1,502 interviews conducted in the period of the October-November, 2015.

Now, the results of the research demonstrate the latest tendencies in public opinion regarding the HIV/AIDS problem in Ukraine, and also allow to evaluate the efficiency of the certain directions of the All-Ukrainian Information Campaign «Don’t Give AIDS a Chance!», which is successfully implemented by the federal company Deutsche Gesellschaft  für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in cooperation with the Ministry of Health of Ukraine since 2009р.

The newest trends discovered by the study shows the significant awareness raising regarding certain questions in the area of HIV. Namely, among the population of Ukraine, the proportion of those who are aware of all the ways of getting infected which are associated with risky behavior increased from 37% in 2014 to 46% in 2015. And among youth (aged 15-24), this proportion increased from 37% in 2014 to 44% in 2015. Yet, the false stereotypes and incorrect information are still widespread in society. For instance, among youth the proportion of those who consider that HIV can be transmitted via mosquito bite increased in 2015 up to 28% (comparing with 18% in 2014). Yet, the demand for information about HIV/AIDS for the sake of one’s own health protection is high. Namely, 32% of young people would like to further receive information on personal measures of HIV prevention.

Unfortunately, young people do not pay significant attention to their protection. Namely, among youth there is a significant decrease in the proportion of those who believe that is necessary to use condoms constantly – from 85% in 2014 to 79% in 2015. Also, 67% among youth have never undergone an HIV test. The current socio-economic situation is also having an impact upon behavior and choice of the respondents. Namely, 29% of Ukrainians are interested in taking an HIV test if it is free of charge. Among Youth there are 43% of such respondents and among the residents of Dnipropetrovska oblast - 33%.

The Ukrainian society is also becoming more tolerant towards people affected by HIV/AIDS. In particular, 68% of Ukrainians think that HIV positive people have the right to keep it a secret (comparing to 65% in 2014). While the number of those who do not believe that people can be HIV-infected because of their own carelessness and immoral behavior increased from 45% in 2014 to 52% in 2015. Youth is also the most tolerant group – 68% of young respondents say that finding out about an HIV-positive status of one of their friends or colleagues wouldn’t change their attitude. At the same time, among Ukrainians this figure reaches 59%.