The results of a survey into attitudes to, and knowledge of, AIDS conducted on a group of 74 South African health professionals are described. Based on a similar British study by McManus and Morton, the authors sought to establish the degree to which attitudes to AIDS correlate with knowledge about AIDS, and the degree to which such attitudes correlate to attitudes towards the sexuality of ‘high-risk’ groups; homosexuals and blacks. Attitudes to AIDS appear to correlate significantly more highly with attitudes to high-risk groups than with knowledge concerning AIDS. The implications of these findings for educative intervention are briefly discussed.
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