• Amr Ehab El-Qushayri and Amira Yasmine Benmelouka.
• Faculty of Medicine, Minia University, Minia 61519, Egypt.
• Afr Health Sci. 2024 Mar 1; 24 (1): 364136-41.

AimTo provide more insights about beliefs of witchcraft and supernatural means as causes of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among women in Senegal.MethodWe included eligible women from the demographic and health survey conducted in Senegal during the year 2017.ResultsWe included 15335 women, of those 620 (4%) thought that they can get HIV through witchcraft or supernatural means. After the adjustment of all available covariates, old age, receiving primary or secondary education, higher wealth index, more frequency of listening to radio, watching television for less than once a week and reading newspaper or magazine for at least once a week were significantly associated with a reduction in the witchcraft and supernatural means beliefs (p < 0.05). Moreover, rural residence was associated with an increase in the wrong HIV beliefs (p < 0.05).ConclusionWe demonstrated many predictors of the wrong beliefs about getting HIV infection by witchcraft or supernatural means in the Senegalese women. Policymakers should initiate health educational programs in parallel with increasing the socioeconomic status to limit the HIV transmission. In addition, continuous monitoring of the HIV knowledge in the endemic countries is crucial to decrease HIV burden.© 2024 El-Qushayri AE et al.

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