Investigation of awareness of addict persons in Sarayan County about AIDS

The medical society assumes smallpox eradication as its biggest victory in the recent half century, and AIDS as its disastrous defeat. This study investigated the level of awareness of people recovering from addiction in Sarayan County regarding AIDS. This investigation was a descriptive cross-sectional study on 121 addicts who referred to the sites for recovery from addiction in Sarayan county in 1388 using a census method and through a questionnaire composed of two parts: the first part of demographic characteristics such as the last degree and the second part of questions related to measuring awareness about transmission routes of AIDS and points the disease is found, prevention and protection measures. A positive score was awarded for each correct response. Collected information was analyzed on SPSS software by chi square (α=0.05). Of 121 studied addicts 30.6 percent had a limited knowledge about AIDS and 59.5% had an average level. A moderate and poor level of knowledge was observed in 78.5% about the points where the disease is found and in 63.7% about transmission routes and 39.5% in prevention methods. Knowledge about AIDS and its transmission routes and the places the virus found was poor. Furthermore, it is not acceptable regarding prevention methods. The necessity of continuing education in this field is felt.