Cross sectional study on attitudes of Serbian mothers with preschool children: should a HIV-positive female teacher be allowed to continue teaching in school?

BACKGROUND: HIV/AIDS continues to be a serious challenge to public health and human rights in the new millennium. The objective of this survey was to identify the correlation between socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge, attitudes and practices of mothers with preschool children, and their attitude towards whether a HIV-positive female teacher should be allowed to continue teaching in school. METHOD: This survey was additional study analysis of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) in the Republic of Serbia conducted in the period November–December 2010 following the UNICEF methodology. Women deemed eligible for the survey were those who had children under five, had never lost a child, were not pregnant at the time of inquiry and who had a clear attitude (“yes” or “no”) towards whether a HIV-positive female teacher should be allowed to continue teaching in school. The criteria were met by 2309 out of 2992 interviewed women. Pearson chi-square and t-test were used to analyse the differences in respondents’ attitude towards whether a HIV-positive female teacher should be allowed to continue teaching in school. Variables that were significantly associated with the dependent variable (p < 0.05) were entered into a multiple logistic regression model. RESULTS: The respondents who were more likely to think that a HIV positive teacher should not be allowed to teach in school were those: who did not know that a healthy-looking person can be HIV-positive (OR = 1.84; 95 % CI = 1.19–2.83), who would not buy (OR = 29.90; 95 % CI = 22.52–39.71) or did not know/were not sure (OR = 2.21; 95 % CI = 1.46–3.33) whether they would buy vegetables from a HIV-positive vendor and women who did not know/were not sure (OR = 2.97; 95 % CI = 1.64–5.39) whether they would take care of a family member sick with AIDS in their own home. CONCLUSION: Misconceptions about HIV transmission represent a major barrier to combating HIV/AIDS epidemic and HIV/AIDS-related stigma. It is, therefore, necessary to continue education and raising awareness of human rights both among the population living with HIV and the general population.