Fatores Socioeconômicos, Demográficos, Fatores Socioeconômicos, Demográficos, regionais e comportamentais que influenciam no conhecimento sobre HIV / AIDS

Abstract

This article aimed to describe the profile of Brazilian Society with respect to its acquired knowledge about HIV/AIDS. This way, it identified how socioeconomic, demographic, behavioral, and location factors affect the level of knowledge of people about the ways of transmission of the HIV, following the information extracted from the survey: “Sexual Behavior of the Brazilian Population and Perceptions of HIV/AIDS”. The identification of groups exposed to the lack of knowledge is an important factor to identify potential risk groups, which could be targeted in more effective prevention campaigns. Ordered Logit Models were used in the empirical analysis given that the index of knowledge provided by the survey was ordered in an asymmetric way. It was verified that the “poverting” process of AIDS could be affected by the different levels of knowledge among groups, favoring those with better education and social level. Moreover, the Northeast region presented the lowest level of knowledge, what transcribe regionally the process mentioned above. Finally, a better knowledge about AIDS is found among heterosexual women than among either heterosexual men or homosexual/bi. A possible mismatch between quality information and potential risk groups raises doubts about the effectiveness of generalized prevention campaigns. Although the media effect was statistically significant, especially through radio and TV, it was of reduced magnitude.