https://imcjms.com Ibrahim Medical College Journal of Medical Science https://imcjms.com/registration/journal_full_text/206 Sun, 30 Apr 2017 15:14:43 +0000 The migrant workers in Bangladesh are at high risk of getting HIV infection due to factors like staying away from family for long periods which leave them vulnerable towards sexual relationship with commercial sex workers (CSW) and having sexual relationship with other men (MSM). This paper aimed to explore the level of awareness on HIV/AIDs among the women whose husbands stay apart from them for over a period of 6 months. For this cross sectional study, women attending public and private hospitals in Dhaka city were selected purposively. The participants were interviewed using a partially open-structured questionnaire. A total of 404 subjects were interviewed. Most of the respondents were housewives (85.7%). The higher education group had a high prevalence of awareness (>=HSC vs. SSC: 45.0% vs. 8.5%; p<0.001).  The prevalence of awareness was significantly higher among the employed than the housewives (50% vs. 12.4%, p<0.001). Although the wives of the unskilled labor and the skilled employee were equal (25% vs. 25%), the wives of skilled employee had significantly higher awareness than the wives of the unskilled laborer (30.7 vs. 10.9%, p = 0.001). The study concludes that higher awareness level was significantly associated with higher education of the participants and higher education of the husband. Occupationally, housewives were found to have very low level of awareness compared with the employed group of participants. Again the wives of skilled employees had a significantly higher prevalence of awareness compared with the wives of unskilled laborer. Introduction One of the ways HIV can be introduced into a low prevalence country is through people returning from high prevalence countries where they have engaged in risky behaviors. Data from three Voluntary Counseling and Testing Units of ICDDR,B indicate that 47 (18.1%) of the 259 people tested between 2002 and 2004 were HIV positive. Of these, 29 were adult males who had returned from abroad, seven were wives of migrant workers, and four were children of HIV positive migrant workers.1 In the last decade, around 200,000 Bangladeshi men were officially recorded as migrating out for work each year, mostly to the Middle East, and many more are known to leave informally.2 According to several studies, extra-marital sex by men are quite common; it was much more prevalent among migrant men who had lived apart from their wives, in Bangladesh or abroad. Women were also more likely to report extra-marital sex if their husbands were living away from home. The likelihood of extra-marital sex increased with length of separation.   The target population of this  study was women whose husbands are migrant workers and have been living abroad for more than six months. For this study only external migrations were selected as cases, as in most of the cases of internal migration the duration of staying apart is likely to be shorter than six months. The analytical plan of the study included description of the study population by their socio-demographic characteristics. For this, some descriptive statistics were used like mean, median, mode and percentages. In order to find out association between the dependent and independent variables, Chi-Square tests were performed to find out the bi-variate relationships and their levels of significance. Results Regarding education of husbands, 44.2% attained a  level higher than HSC and by occupation, 30.9% were semi-skilled. Compared with the lower education group, higher education group had high prevalence of awareness (>=HSC vs. SSC: 45.0% vs. 8.5%; p<0.001) [Table-1]. Likewise, the group with higher education of husbands showed higher levels of awareness than the group of lower educated husbands (25.3% vs. 10.0%; p<0.005) [Table-2]. Table-1: Relation between respondents’ education and their awareness level on HIV/AIDs     Occupationally, 85.6% were housewives and only 11.8% were employed. The prevalence of awareness was significantly higher among the employed than the housewives (50% vs. 12.4%, p<0.001) [Table-3]. Although the wives of the unskilled labor and the skilled employee were equal (25% vs. 25%), the wives of skilled employee had significantly higher awareness than the wives of the unskilled labor (30.7 vs. 10.9%, p = 0.001) [Table 4]. Table-3: Relation between respondents’ occupation and awareness on HIV/AIDs     Discussion It was assumed that based on education, economic status, occupation, access to media and cultural traits of a community, the awareness on HIV/AIDs would vary. The findings of the study do reveal that all these factors have an effect on the awareness level of the target population. Based on the ranking generated by the variables of the questionnaire, 82.5% of the respondents had a low awareness on HIV/AIDs; this being an alarming situation demanding immediate and appropriate intervention for prevention of HIV/AIDs in the country. Behind the low awareness, the factors that worked were lack of knowledge, lack of recollection or adaptation of the preventive measures, and lack of understanding the risk of having an HIV positive partner.   The study revealed that the awareness level of HIV and AIDs among the grass-widows, a high risk group for contacting the disease was dangerously low. Higher awareness level was significantly associated with higher education of the participants and higher education of the husband. By occupation, the housewives were found to have very low level of awareness compared with the employed group of participants. Again the wives of skilled employee had significantly higher prevalence of awareness compared with the wives of unskilled labor. Overall, higher education and higher quality of employment in either spouse were positively related to the awareness of HIV/AIDs. Acknowledgement   1.  Zaidi A. Zahiruddind M, Parvez M et al. Profile of HIV positive clients attending a VCT unit in Bangladesh. In: Abstract for the 15th International AIDs Conference, Bangkok, July 2004. Bangkok. Accessed on 16 September 2004; http://www.iasociety.org/ejias/show.asp?abstract_id=2173468. 2026 Ibrahim Medical College. All rights reserved.