Regional Institute For Population Studies At The University Of Ghana, Legon.

ABSTRACT The study on attitude towards PLWHA was conducted as part of the effort at understanding some of the problems that face PLWHA in Ghana, with the general objective of examining the magnitude of the problem of attitude towards PLWHA. A total of 4916 women aged 15-49 years and 4568 men aged 15-59 years were interviewed in the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS), however 5472 respondents consisting of 2816 women aged 15-49 years and 2656 men aged 15-59 years were used for the analysis because they responded to the questions on HIV. The qualitative method was used to collect the primary data for the study. In-depth interview was used to collect data from PLWHA in Tema and Agomanya. The study targeted 150 PLWHA, 80 at Agomanya (45 women and 35 men) and 70 in Tema (40 women and 30 men), but the number was limited to 60, 25 from Tema (14 women and 11 men) and 35 from Agomanya (21 women and 14 men) because these were the PLWHA who were willing to cooperate. The women were aged 20-54 years whiles the men were aged 21-57 years. Purposive sampling was used to collect data for the study, that is, interviewing people who have been diagnosed as having the disease. Univariate, biavariate and multivariate analyses techniques were used in analyzing and presenting the result. The univariate methods such as frequency distributions were used to describe the distribution of respondents by selected socio-demographic characteristics, comprehensive knowledge about AIDS (Knowledge of HIV prevention methods, misconception about AIDS and Knowledge of HIV transmission) and attitude towards PLWHA. The bivariate analysis seeks to investigate the association between the independent variables, (socio- demographic characteristics) and the intermediate variables (Comprehensive knowledge about AIDS, Knowledge of HIV prevention methods, misconception about AIDS and Knowledge of HIV transmission), Independent and dependent variables (attitude towards PLWHA). Bivariate analysis was also conducted between the intermediate variable (Comprehensive knowledge about AIDS, its components which are knowledge of HIV prevention methods, misconception about AIDS and knowledge of HIV transmission) and the dependent variable (attitude towards PLWHA). The chi-square test was used to test the differences between proportions at alpha level of 0.05. Ordered logistic regression model was used to determine the socio-demographic factors that predict respondents attitude towards PLWHA controlling for the level of comprehensive knowledge of respondents about AIDS. The outcome variable for the regression model is attitude towards PLWHA. The independent variable (socio- demographic factors) are sex, age, level of education, marital status, religious affiliation, ethnicity, wealth index, occupation and type of place of residence. Comprehensive knowledge about AIDS is a scale measurement made up of knowledge of HIV prevention methods, misconception about AIDS and knowledge of HIV transmission was treated as the intermediate variable. The multivariate analysis also revealed that sex, marital status, education, wealth index and comprehensive knowledge about AIDS are statistically significant in predicting attitude towards PLWHA. The findings from the multivariate analysis also confirms the result from the bivariate analysis and the qualitative data. he study also confirmed all the three hypotheses namely: (i) Education is positively related to positive attitude towards PLWHA (ii) Wealth index is positively related to positive attitude towards PLWHA (iii) Comprehensive knowledge about AIDS is positively related to positive attitude towards PLWHA The study found out that the explanatory factors that contributed to attitude towards PLWHA are sex, education, marital status, wealth index and comprehensive knowledge about AIDS. In addition to these factors, age, religious affiliation, ethnicity, occupation and type of place of residence have been found to be important factors in understanding attitude towards PLWHA. Based on the findings of the study the following recommendation are made: 1) Erreneous beliefs and misconceptions are obstacles in fighting against stigmatization and discrimination and also tend to encourage the spread of HIV disease. Since more than 60 per cent of the respondents have some misconception about AIDS, programme implementor should promote and sustain their IEC (Information Education Communication interventions. 2) To control the spread of the disease, it is crucial to address stigmatization discrimination against those with the disease. As a result of reduced stigma, those infected may be more likely to access the health system earlier without fear of being sigmatized, judged, blamed or discriminated against. Attempt at promoting positive attitude towards PLWHA should continue to be a major component of GAC’s programmes. The use of community leaders in communication and education effort is a key strategy for disseminating accurate information about AIDS to most people. 3) Since education is significantly associated with attitude towards PLWHA, it is essential for the Ministry of Education in Ghana to incorporate appropriate HIV education and information about other sources of the disease into school curricular. But the out of school population should also be targetted for education on HIV 4) Lastly, community and church mobilization, political involvement, policy development and health education are important and necessary to challenge misconception about the disease and change stigmatizing, discriminating and negative attitude towards PLWHA