Government initiatives and public awareness on HIV/AIDS in Malaysia: where are we after 30 years?

HIV/AIDS has been a growing public health problem in Malaysia for over three decades. To curb the spread of HIV/AIDS and to increase public awareness regarding the disease, numerous initiatives have been developed by various stakeholders. This study is an exploratory investigation of health commu...

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Main Authors: Tham, Jen Sern, Amira Sariyati Firdaus, Hasmah Zanuddin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2016
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10517/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10517/1/16494-46335-1-SM.pdf
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author Tham, Jen Sern
Amira Sariyati Firdaus,
Hasmah Zanuddin,
author_facet Tham, Jen Sern
Amira Sariyati Firdaus,
Hasmah Zanuddin,
author_sort Tham, Jen Sern
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description HIV/AIDS has been a growing public health problem in Malaysia for over three decades. To curb the spread of HIV/AIDS and to increase public awareness regarding the disease, numerous initiatives have been developed by various stakeholders. This study is an exploratory investigation of health communication and public awareness of HIV/AIDS, based on a cross-sectional survey of 384 respondents in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The study examines public knowledge of HIV/AIDS and public perceptions of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) as well as public awareness of public initiatives. The results show that interpersonal channels are important HIV/AIDS informational sources, and that newspapers are a major mass communication or media source for HIV/AIDS information. The public is generally aware of HIV/AIDS transmission, but still harbors moderate, rather than straight-cut positive, perceptions and attitudes towards PLHIV. This shows that the National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS may not be fully supported by existing public initiatives.
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spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:105172017-07-10T06:38:15Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10517/ Government initiatives and public awareness on HIV/AIDS in Malaysia: where are we after 30 years? Tham, Jen Sern Amira Sariyati Firdaus, Hasmah Zanuddin, HIV/AIDS has been a growing public health problem in Malaysia for over three decades. To curb the spread of HIV/AIDS and to increase public awareness regarding the disease, numerous initiatives have been developed by various stakeholders. This study is an exploratory investigation of health communication and public awareness of HIV/AIDS, based on a cross-sectional survey of 384 respondents in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The study examines public knowledge of HIV/AIDS and public perceptions of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) as well as public awareness of public initiatives. The results show that interpersonal channels are important HIV/AIDS informational sources, and that newspapers are a major mass communication or media source for HIV/AIDS information. The public is generally aware of HIV/AIDS transmission, but still harbors moderate, rather than straight-cut positive, perceptions and attitudes towards PLHIV. This shows that the National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS may not be fully supported by existing public initiatives. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2016 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10517/1/16494-46335-1-SM.pdf Tham, Jen Sern and Amira Sariyati Firdaus, and Hasmah Zanuddin, (2016) Government initiatives and public awareness on HIV/AIDS in Malaysia: where are we after 30 years? Jurnal Komunikasi ; Malaysian Journal of Communication, 32 (2). pp. 545-565. ISSN 0128-1496 http://ejournal.ukm.my/mjc/issue/view/877
spellingShingle Tham, Jen Sern
Amira Sariyati Firdaus,
Hasmah Zanuddin,
Government initiatives and public awareness on HIV/AIDS in Malaysia: where are we after 30 years?
title Government initiatives and public awareness on HIV/AIDS in Malaysia: where are we after 30 years?
title_full Government initiatives and public awareness on HIV/AIDS in Malaysia: where are we after 30 years?
title_fullStr Government initiatives and public awareness on HIV/AIDS in Malaysia: where are we after 30 years?
title_full_unstemmed Government initiatives and public awareness on HIV/AIDS in Malaysia: where are we after 30 years?
title_short Government initiatives and public awareness on HIV/AIDS in Malaysia: where are we after 30 years?
title_sort government initiatives and public awareness on hiv/aids in malaysia: where are we after 30 years?
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10517/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10517/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10517/1/16494-46335-1-SM.pdf