The survey was organized by UNAIDS together with UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE) in the end of 2017. The social media network Odnoklassniki (OK.ru) supported this initiative. The survey targeted at studying the level of awareness on HIV and AIDS got 169 314 responses, 50% of whom came from people under 39.
Among respondents who completed the full survey – 63% answered accurately all questions about HIV. When asked how to reduce the likelihood of contracting HIV, 95% correctly answered to use a condom every time when having sex. When asked about the age to discuss with adolescents safer sex, 65% answered “before the start of sexual activity” and 28% – “at the age of 14”.
63% of respondents tested for HIV in the past year, and 84% knew where to get tested.
Tigran Yepoyan, UNESCO regional advisor on HIV and health education says:
“We in UNESCO have been working on HIV prevention for many years and today we are pleased to see that HIV awareness level is pretty high. The fact that 69% of respondents know their HIV status is an important step in reaching 90-90-90 targets for the region. These targets mean that by 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status; 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive antiretroviral therapy and 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression. Yet more efforts are needed to improve testingrates, make it more accessible and close the gap in areas where inaccurate knowledge and unsafe behaviours are reported”.
Among the most revealing was the fact that 90% of respondents indicated that they would not mind to have a teacher living with HIV. However only 63% are ready to share food with a person living with HIV.
Yulia Plakhutina, UNESCO IITE Projects Coordinator:
“The survey has demonstrated a high level of awareness and knowledge about HIV/AIDS and acceptance of people living with HIV in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including Russia. We do understand though, that there is a lot of work ahead to fully overcome discrimination and stigmatization of people living with HIV. This survey also showed that OK.RUTEST community is effectively reaching large population groups and promoting HIV awareness and testing”.
A 13-questions survey on HIV was initiated by UNAIDS together with UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education with support from the largest Russian language social media platform with 71 mln users monthly (January 2017) – Odnoklassniki