Introduction: The Acquired Immuno­Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is emerging as one of the major public health problems in India. It is rapidly diffusing into the “general population” and particularly women are found to be more vulnerable to contract HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted infections (STI) within the context of marriage. This could be due to inadequate knowledge and awareness regarding HIV/AIDS and its modes of transmission and HIV related stigma and discrimination.

Objectives: To assess awareness of women of reproductive age group about modes of transmission of HIV/AIDS and to assess the attitude of women of reproductive age group towards Patients Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).

Methods: The study was conducted in rural field practice area of Shivamogga institute of medical sciences, Shivamogga. All the households were  covered and one woman between 15­45 years age group from each house, willing to participate was included. Data was collected after informed consent using pre­tested semi­structured questionnaire and analyzed in SPSS 21.

Results: Out of 150, Majority of the women were aware that unsafe sex (69.3%), Needle sharing
(70.7%), Breast feeding (55.5%) are the possible ways of transmission of HIV. Illiterates and women with education 10th standard had less awareness about modes of transmission and showed discriminatory attitude towards HIV positive people.

Conclusion: Based on the results, we conclude that the level of education has an impact in understanding the modes of transmission and changing the attitudes of public towards PLWHA. Hence there is increased need for educating more and more women especially in rural areas and strengthening of IEC activities.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS; PLWHA; Awareness; Attitude.