Evolution of HIV Knowledge in China: Has China Succeeded in Empowering Its People with Better Knowledge about HIV/AIDS?

Olga Maslovskaya, University of Southampton
James J. Brown, University of London
Sabu S. Padmadas, University of Southampton
Peter W.F. Smith, University of Southampton

HIV prevalence in China is currently less than one percent, but due to the large population this translates into a large number of people. The number of people living with HIV is growing and moving beyond high-risk groups to the general population. Ensuring adequate knowledge is significant for the successful HIV prevention as adequate knowledge is an important component of a risk reduction behaviour framework. In 2003 the Chinese government reacted to the evidence of spread of HIV and since that time prevention measures including educational campaigns were introduced in the country. In order to assess the effectiveness of the educational campaigns in China, HIV knowledge will be compared across times in the country using China National and UNFPA Reproductive Health and Family Planning Surveys 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005. HIV knowledge in China will also be compared with HIV knowledge in Kenya, Uganda, India and Moldova using recent DHS data.