Continuing medical education needs regarding AIDS among Egyptian physicians in Alexandria, Egypt and in the Asir Region, Saudi Arabia.

A study was carried out on two groups of Egyptian physicians to assess their continuing medical education (CME) needs regarding AIDS. The first group comprised 330 physicians working in Alexandria, Egypt, in Mother and Child Health Care Units, School Health Units and Health Offices. The second group included 144 physicians working in Primary Health Care Centres in the Asir Region, southwestern Saudi Arabia. The demographic and socio-cultural background of both groups was similar. The results revealed similar deficiencies in their knowledge about the disease, especially modes of transmission. These results indicate the urgent need to develop an AIDS-specific CME programme to deal with erroneous ideas. Lectures and periodicals ranked first as the preferred educational strategy.