Ignorance of and misconceptions about HIV were putting foreign migrant workers at greater risk of contracting the virus, an activist group said after a study of 779 women.
About 87 per cent of the women thought they could get HIV by donating blood, 53 per cent said mosquito bites were a risk, 54 per cent thought safe sex meant having only one partner and 48 per cent said it meant using a condom.
The majority of the sample group for the survey, by St John's Cathedral HIV Education Centre, were Filipinas, about 68 per cent, followed by Indonesians, 13 per cent. The remainder were Thais and Sri Lankans.
The study showed misconceptions persisted about how Aids was transmitted, affecting people's behaviour and attitudes, centre manager Elijah Fund said.
'Condom use is not very high among the respondents,' she said.
Sixty-two per cent said having only one partner was enough to guard against HIV, while only 24 per cent cited condom use. Fourteen per cent said celibacy was the best method to avoid HIV.
Twenty-eight per cent said they had sex in the past 12 months. Of those, 32 per cent said they had only one partner during that time.
