These data and other studies suggest that, if people are to protect themselves and their partners against AIDS, levels of knowledge must rise. In most countries almost everybody has heard of AIDS. Knowledge of condoms is also widespread. Yet many people who know about AIDS and about condoms do not know that using condoms can prevent AIDS. This lack of knowledge can be deadly.

When prompted with the name of the illness, the great majority of respondents in every country say they have heard of AIDS. This response rate does not necessarily mean that respondents know how AIDS is transmitted, however, or that it can be prevented by using condoms.

Not surprisingly, fewer people mention AIDS when asked to name diseases spontaneously, without prompting. For example, in Mali only 70% of married men spontaneously mentioned AIDS compared with 97% who said, when prompted, that they had heard of AIDS (122). In Haiti 77% of never-married women spontaneously mentioned AIDS compared with 97%, when prompted (87).

In many countries men are more aware of AIDS than are women, while never-married women are somewhat more likely than married women to have heard of AIDS. In most Latin American countries, however, awareness of AIDS is virtually universal among men and women alike. Differences between married men and women in awareness of AIDS are greatest in West Africa. In Niger, the extreme case, 90% of married men surveyed in 1997 said they had heard of AIDS compared with 51% of married women (see Table 5).

Other studies in China, Papua New Guinea, and Turkey also have found substantial lack of knowledge about HIV/AIDS and other STIs (59, 299, 320).

A person who reports knowing about condoms nevertheless may not know much about them, including how to use them correctly. In Uganda a study in 1993 found that virtually every respondent had heard of condoms, but only about 1 in every 10 knew how to use a condom correctly (283). In Ghana qualitative research in 1997 found that many young women avoided condoms out of an incorrect belief that condoms usually broke and that they caused a variety of health problems (214). In Gujarat, India, a study in 1997 reported that only 15% of respondents knew that a condom should not be reused, and only 7% knew not to use an oil-based lubricant with a latex condom (485).

JHU/CCP

In Mexico and elsewhere, condoms are sold in pharmacies and other retail outlets. Many people know that condoms prevent STIs. No STI, including HIV, can pass through an intact latex condom.

In all surveyed countries a majority of never-married men who are aware of AIDS and know about condoms also know a source of condoms. In 11 of 13 surveyed countries the same is true of never-married women. Married women are generally least likely to know a source of condoms.