Religion and HIV in Tanzania: influence of religious beliefs on HIV stigma, disclosure, and treatment attitudes

BMC Public Health

Table 3 Survey responses.

	Percent Respondents (%)	TOTAL	Urban	Rural	Cath.	Luth.	Pent.	Male	Female
1	Believes HIV is a punishment from God	53.2	47.7 *	60.8 *	47.1	53.2	60.3	49.3	57.2
	Believes PLWHA have not followed the Word of God	34.9	26.9 ***	46.3 ***	23.1 **	42.6 **	38.3 **	35.9	34.3
	Believes prayer can cure HIV	80.8	81.3	80.0	64.6 ***	83.4 ***	94.4 ***	79.8	82.1
2	ARV knowledge	81.4	84.8 *	76.6 *	82.4	82.3	79.3	81.4	81.3
	Has been tested for HIV	42.7	51.2 ***	30.3 ***	40.8	40.9	46.8	40.6	44.8
	Fears casual contact HIV transmission	56.2	53.6	59.9	56.0	57.6	54.8	54.7	57.4
	Of sexually active respondents, % that never uses condoms	55.5	41.6 ***	73.0 ***	42.4 ***	56.4 ***	69.7 ***	45.5 ***	65.8 ***
3	Expresses shame-related HIV stigma	54.6	56.0	52.6	51.8 *	49.4 *	64.3 *	52.8	56.4
	Willing to disclose to religious community	84.2	83.3	85.4	81.5 *	80.6 *	91.6 *	82.9	85.8
	If HIV+, would NOT start ARVs (even) if doctor recommends	6.3	6.8	5.6	2.4 ***	3.3 ***	14.3 ***	5.0	7.6

Responses concerning (1) religious beliefs about HIV, (2) knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to HIV and ARVs, and (3) the outcome variables, grouped by urban or rural setting, survey collection church, and gender. Chi square test significance levels of p < 0.05, p < 0.01, and p < 0.001 denoted by *, **, and ***, respectively.

ISSN: 1471-2458