Comparative Study of Awareness regarding HIV/AIDS among Transportation Workers and Female Sex Workers of Sunsari and Morang Districts

Abstract

Background: Nepal's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS is fueled by poverty, gender inequalities, low levels of education and literacy, denial, stigma, and discrimination. Though the absolute number of HIV/AIDS cases is still low, there are already "concentrated" epidemics within certain high-risk behaviour groups in Nepal. The main purpose of the study was to compare level of awareness on HIV/AIDS among transportation workers and female sex workers of Sunsari and Morang districts of Nepal. Methods: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Morang district was selected purposively as study area. Altogether 256 transportation workers were selected using simple random sampling technique. Similarly 256 female sex workers were identified from different cities of Morang and Sunsari districts using snowball sampling technique. Data was edited, coded, recoded and tabulated. Data analysis was done with descriptive method with the use of cross table and statistical tools in Statistical Package for Social Sciences software win 12 version. Results: Comparing the awareness of female sex workers (48%) and transportation workers (52.3%), transportation workers are found a bit more aware then the female sex workers. Conclusions: The female sex workers are more risky groups than transportation workers to acquire HIV/AIDS Keywords: female sex workers; HIV/AIDS; level of awareness; transportation workers.