Demographic

Table 13.1 Knowledge of AIDSPercentage of women and men age 15-49 who have heard of AIDS by backgroundcharacteristics and percentage of women and men age 50 and over who have heardof AIDS, Swaziland 2006-07BackgroundcharacteristicHas heardof AIDSWomenNumber ofwomenHas heardof AIDSMenNumber ofmenAge15-24 99.8 2,320 99.0 2,20915-19 99.8 1,274 98.6 1,32320-24 99.9 1,046 99.6 88625-29 99.8 729 99.5 62430-39 99.6 1,118 99.8 79840-49 99.6 820 99.8 525Marital statusNever married 99.9 2,487 99.1 2,734Ever had sex 100.0 1,607 99.6 1,458Never had sex 99.7 880 98.6 1,276Married/living together 99.6 2,062 99.7 1,219Divorced/separated/widowed 100.0 438 100.0 203ResidenceUrban 100.0 1,330 99.6 1,181Rural 99.7 3,657 99.2 2,975RegionHhohho 99.9 1,340 99.7 1,099Manzini 99.7 1,647 99.5 1,349Shiselweni 99.7 1,033 99.2 843Lubombo 99.8 966 98.8 865EducationNo education 98.6 402 97.8 316Lower primary 99.3 360 97.5 470Higher primary 99.8 1,268 99.3 980Secondary 99.9 1,693 99.8 1,191High school 100.0 894 100.0 852Tertiary 100.0 370 99.9 347Wealth quintileLowest 99.0 785 98.5 601Second 99.9 862 99.5 665Middle 99.9 968 98.8 856Fourth 99.9 1,111 99.7 953Highest 100.0 1,262 99.7 1,081Total 15-49 99.8 4,987 99.3 4,156Total 50+ 96.2 669 97.4 44413.2.2 Knowledge of HIV PreventionHIV among adults is most commonly transmitted by heterosexual contact between an infectedpartner and a non-infected partner. Consequently, HIV prevention programmes focus their messages andefforts on three important types of behaviour: use of condoms; limiting the number of sexual partners orstaying faithful to one partner; and, for young persons, delaying sexual debut (abstinence). To ascertainwhether the programmes have been effective in communicating these messages, SDHS respondents werespecifically asked whether it is possible to reduce the chances of getting HIV by using a condom at everysexual encounter, limiting sexual intercourse to one uninfected partner, and abstaining from sex.Table 13.2 shows levels of knowledge of the various HIV prevention methods by backgroundcharacteristics. The data indicate that knowledge of HIV prevention methods is generally high amongwomen and men age 15-49—more than 80 percent for each of the stipulated methods—but lower amongwomen and men age 50 and over. The level of knowledge among women age 15-49 is generally higherthan that among men age 15-49. However, older women are less knowledgeable than older men.184 | HIV/AIDS-Related Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviour