Awareness and attitude of the general public toward HIV AIDS in coastal South India - a community based crossectional study

Background Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is one of the most dreaded entities that modern medicine has ever had to tackle. Adult HIV prevalence in India is approximately 0.36%. HIV-related stigma and discrimination remains an enormous barrier to effectively fighting the HIV and AIDS epidemic, There are several reasons for the stigma toward PLWHA among the general population, one of them could be inaccurate information about the transmission of HIV; creating irrational behavior and misperceptions of personal risks.