Inventaire d'enquêtes Demostaf

The objective of this paper is to assess knowledge, perceptions and behavioural changes in response to AIDS in a rural community in the south of Senegal, comparing 2 cross-sectional surveys using standardized questionnaires and performed in 1990-1992 and 1994. An AIDS-related knowledge score was built using 4 questions about routes of HIV transmission, ranging from 0 to 4. The score increased between the 2 surveys from 1.6 to 2.1 for men ( P =0.006) and from 0.8 to 2.6 {\textless} for women ( P 10 4). The proportion of those who responded 'I don't know' to the 4 questions dealing with routes of AIDS transmission decreased from 24\% to 14\% on the average for men and from 66\% to 20\% on the average for women. The proportion of men who declared casual sex partners in the past 12 months decreased from 39\% to 21\% ( P =0.01). However, the proportion remained stable for women (from 15\% to 18\%). These results show that despite a relatively low level of HIV infection (0.8\% of all adults), AIDS-related knowledge increased and at-risk behaviour decreased in a rural area of west Africa.