ABSTRACT
Malawi, which has a population of over nine million people, has one of the highest incidences of reported HIV positive cases in the world. Approximately 12 percent of the total population is estimated to be HIV positive. Much of the literature produced for AIDS campaigns fails to identify the context in which HIV is transmitted; high levels of preventable disease, inadequate health resources, and a background of poverty. Health education programs are most effective when they are informed by actual health beliefs and practices. In the case of HIV infection, the Health Belief Model proposes that people who believe they are personally susceptible to HIV exposure, the consequences of exposure are severe, protective measures are effective in preventing transmission, and perceive few barriers to the adoption of condom use may be more likely to adopt such behavior to avoid HIV transmission.
