[Information in the fight against HIV infection and AIDS: results of a knowledge survey among general practice physicians, journalists, and users of the AIDS Green Line].

This work presents the outcomes of the study "Evaluation of the role of social communication in the fight against HIV infection and AIDS" carried out by some researchers of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) and financed within the 2nd Social Research Project on AIDS. Through an accurate survey, the study aimed to evaluate the standard of knowledge on HIV/AIDS in two most important sources of information frequently contacted by citizens: general practitioners and journalists. It also sounded out the knowledge in a random sample of users of the AIDS Help-Line of the ISS. We could find out a generally low standard of knowledge of HIV/AIDS among journalists. As far as general practitioners are concerned, the differences found in the standard of knowledge are inversely proportioned to age and number of patients. A fairly good standard of knowledge is found out among the users the AIDS Help-Line. Of course, the same outcomes cannot be valid also for the general population; on the contrary, the outcomes concerning general practitioners and journalists could be generalized. Information gathered from data collection could make easier the planning of more specific interventions and the drawing up of appropriate guidelines.