One in three people in the world’s major industrialised countries ?know little or nothing? about the deadly HIV/AIDS pandemic and 25 per cent believe that the problem has been ?greatly exaggerated? by the media, a poll said.
The survey conducted by global polling firm Ipsos, however, found that 44 per cent respondents, including 50 per cent in the US, are prepared to pay more taxes to combat the disease.
The disease is estimated to have killed 28 million people in last 26 years.
The Global AIDS Attitudes Survey, published by the non-governmental organization World Vision, reveals the awareness and attitudes of populations in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, all members of the ?Group of Eight? industrialized nations, towards those affected by HIV and AIDS globally.
Speaking at the launch of the Survey yesterday, the Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Bunmi Makinwa underlined that “the more we understand the epidemic, the better we can make policies.”
Among the main findings of the Survey is that the more people know about HIV and AIDS globally, the more concerned they are about the issue and the more compassionate they are towards those directly affected by it.
The World Vision “Index of Concern,” a tool for understanding the level of concern each country feels towards the issue, finds that Canada leads the seven nations surveyed for the highest level of empathy its residents feel toward those affected by HIV and AIDS globally, with Japan ranking last. The others in order are France, Germany, US, Italy and UK.