Social disparities, communication inequalities, and HIV/AIDS-related knowledge and attitudes in India.

Promoting awareness, increasing knowledge, and eliminating stigma is important for stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS. The relation of social determinants and communication inequalities with HIV/AIDS-related cognitive processes has not been studied previously in India. Gender-stratified Poisson regression models of 123,459 women and 73,908 men in the 2005-2006 National Family Health Survey were used to calculate relative risk estimates and 95% confidence intervals for these associations. Results indicated that there are significant inequalities in mass media use among different social classes. Education and wealth are strongly and positively associated with awareness of HIV/AIDS and knowledge about prevention and transmission of AIDS and negatively associated with HIV/AIDS-related stigma. These associations attenuated when use of various mass media types were added to the models with television showing the strongest effect. Mass media may be helpful in reducing social disparities in HIV/AIDS outcomes.