AIDS survey reveals chasm in knowledge vs practice
ALTHOUGH two-thirds of Greek Cypriots and over half of Turkish Cypriots say they take precautions against the possibility of contracting AIDS during sex, a number of misconceptions about the disease still exist in both communities, an EU survey revealed yesterday.
These included a startling 11 per cent of respondents who believed AIDS could be contracted through sitting on a toilet seat.
The Eurobarometer report found that although the level of awareness regarding HIV and AIDS is generally high, citizens from member states which joined in 2004 tended to provide less correct answers.
This included Cyprus where the majority still believe AIDS can be contracted or possibly contracted through kissing an infected person or drinking from the same glass.
Eurobaromter said that on average, most Europeans are aware of the risks of sharing needles, receiving infected blood or having unprotected sex. Most respondents also declared this led them to take precautions when having sexual intercourse and seeking stability in the choice of partners.
“However, misconceptions still remain: for instance, only 40 per cent of respondents know it is not possible to be infected by HIV when kissing on the mouth,” the report said.
Cypriots had some of the highest level of awareness within the bloc when it came to how AIDS can be contracted tended to give the wrong answers as the list progressed to ways in which AIDS could not be contracted at all.
Overall, the study found that 66 per cent of Greek Cypriots claimed to take more precautions during sex compared to the EU 25 average of 48 per cent. The two-thirds figure was also higher than the EU 15’s average of 42 per cent.
Members of the Turkish Cypriot community topped the ranks of acceding countries with 55 per cent stating they take more precautions during sexual intercourse, while only 37 per cent of Turks replied that they did so.
The report said there was no doubt that a certain level of fear regarding AIDS still existed and that individuals had indeed changed their behaviour since the emergence and the spread of the disease.
“We must not lose sight of the fact that HIV/AIDS is still one of the biggest preventable killers world-wide” said Cypriot European Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou.
“I am most worried about the decreasing attention for prevention. We have to promote education, the use of sterile needles and syringes, and especially safer sex as complacency leads in particular the young to underestimate the potential risk,” he said.
“The Eurobarometer shows some progress in raising awareness of citizens on HIV/AIDS prevention, but more needs to be done, in particular to inform the citizens of new EU Member States, where the epidemic is still strong, and which border with countries where the epidemic is on the rise.”
Almost half of EU citizens think it is possible to be infected by sharing glasses or toilet seats with, donating blood to or taking care of HIV-positive or AIDS patients. However, the vast majority of respondents are aware it is not risky to eat a meal prepared by infected persons, shake their hand or handle objects they have touched.
The report found that Cypriots were the most aware of the danger of “being injected with a used needle by someone who has AIDS or is HIV positive”, with a correct response of 99 per cent compared to 95 per cent of Turkish Cypriots and only two thirds of Turks.
The same figure applied to Cypriots when it came to believing in the risk of contracting AIDS from a blood transfusion, and when it came to the chances of getting the disease through unprotected sex.
However as the report followed through to other possibilities to catch AIDS, the view among Cypriots did not alter correspondingly, which leads to the conclusion that knowledge about AIDS and HIV is fuelled more by fear than by being informed on the issues.
Only 20 per cent of Greek Cypriots answered correctly that AIDS could not be caught from kissing an infected person, which means that nearly 80 per cent in Cyprus think AIDS can “be caught” or “possibly be caught” from kissing. The EU average for the correct answer was 40 per cent. Cyprus ranked second last on this question with Greece not too far behind.
In the same way nearly a quarter of Cypriots think they can catch AIDS by drinking from the same glass as an infected person. Another 42 per cent also think the disease can be caught this way. Only 32 per cent of Greek Cypriots gave the correct answer compared to 40 per cent of Turkish Cypriots.
Similarly, although 37 per cent of Greek Cypriots know that AIDS cannot be contracted from a toilet seat, 24 per cent said it could be and 35 per cent said this was possible.
??
??
??
??
