Cross sectional study on attitudes of Serbian mothers with preschool children: should a HIV-positive female teacher be allowed to continue teaching in school?

BACKGROUND

HIV/AIDS continues to be a serious challenge to public health and human rights in the new millennium. The objective of this survey was to identify the correlation between socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge, attitudes and practices of mothers with preschool children, and their attitude towards whether a HIV-positive female teacher should be allowed to continue teaching in school.

METHOD: This survey was additional study analysis of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) in the Republic of Serbia conducted in the period November-December 2010 following the UNICEF methodology. Women deemed eligible for the survey were those who had children under five, had never lost a child, were not pregnant at the time of inquiry and who had a clear attitude ("yes" or "no") towards whether a HIV-positive female teacher should be allowed to continue teaching in school. The criteria were met by 2309 out of 2992 interviewed women. Pearson chi-square and t-test were used to analyse the differences in respondents' attitude towards whether a HIV-positive female teacher should be allowed to continue teaching in school. Variables that were significantly associated with the dependent variable (p < 0.05) were entered into a multiple logistic regression model.

RESULTS

The respondents who were more likely to think that a HIV positive teacher should not be allowed to teach in school were those: who did not know that a healthy-looking person can be HIV-positive (OR = 1.84; 95% CI = 1.19-2.83), who would not buy (OR = 29.90; 95% CI = 22.52-39.71) or did not know/were not sure (OR = 2.21; 95% CI = 1.46-3.33) whether they would buy vegetables from a HIV-positive vendor and women who did not know/were not sure (OR = 2.97; 95% CI = 1.64-5.39) whether they would take care of a family member sick with AIDS in their own home.

CONCLUSION

Misconceptions about HIV transmission represent a major barrier to combating HIV/AIDS epidemic and HIV/AIDS-related stigma. It is, therefore, necessary to continue education and raising awareness of human rights both among the population living with HIV and the general population.