ABSTRACT
Background: HIV epidemic is moving from urban to rural population. Assessment of the awareness of HIV/AIDS control measures in rural areas is important to determine the impact of previous and current awareness programs as well as the need for interventions. Aims & Objective: This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of rural dwellers in Osun State regarding HIV/AIDS and to explore the epidemiological determinants of awareness among them. Material and Methods: This is a cross sectional descriptive study. Multistage random sampling procedure was used to select the sample. The instrument of the study was a semi-structured questionnaires administered by interview to 399 respondents (sexually active men and women in the age range 15-55 years). SPSS was used for analysis and the results tabulated. Relevant statistical methods were also used to access associations where necessary and P-value of less than 0.05 was taken as significant. Results: Out of a total of 399 subjects who participated in survey, 57.9% and 36.8% are aware of VCT and ART as HIV/AIDS control measures. More than one quarter of the respondents i.e. 35.1% subjects believed HIV/AIDS is curable while only 15.5% had gone for VCT. Demographic characteristic such as educational status was found to have significant association with knowledge and attitudes towards control measures of HIV infection. Conclusion: Basic knowledge and good attitude on HIV/AIDS is still lacking among rural dwellers in Osun State. Literacy and media exposure are factors that determine awareness of HIV among them and can be helpful to raise their knowledge regarding this scourge.
ABSTRACT
The complex interactions between Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Tuberculosis (TB) infections may be magnified, in the presence of another potentially stressful condition like pregnancy. Though co-infection among pregnant women is rare, treatment outcomes may depend on accessibility to comprehensive treatment modalities. The objective of this study is to determine treatment outcomes among pregnant HIV and TB co-infected pregnant women in Lagos, South-western Nigeria. This retrospective, analytical study was carried out among ninety four (94) eligible pregnant women co-infected with HIV and TB at selected health-care facilities in Lagos state between January, 2008 and December, 2009. A standard checklist for data collection was used and analysis was carried out using the EPI info software. Mean age of respondents was 30.8 (±3.9) years. Sixteen (17.1%) TB cases were clinically diagnosed for tuberculosis. Among tuberculosis cases identified through sputum microscopy, 60(63.8%) were acid fast bacilli (AFB) positive and 21(22.3%) were identified in the first trimester. The mean percentage adherence to anti-retroviral drugs was 95.9% (±5.3). None of the participant smoked cigarette. Seventy three {73 (77.7%)} had contact with TB infected or suspected person in the last three months. Treatment outcome in mother showed that 74(78.7%) were cured, 8(8.5%) relapsed while 12 (12.8%) had treatment failures. Among the babies, 83(88.3%) were born alive. Women with both poor adherence (<90%) and with positive TB contact, but neither factor alone, were half-fold less likely to be cured compared with women with both good adherence (>95%) and no TB contact (OR=0.59, CI=0.45-0.95 and p=0.014). Cure rate was substantially lower in this study. This calls for extra strategies such as routine TB screening in antenatal clinics, strict adherence to national guidelines in the treatment of HIV/TB co-infections, focused antenatal care and comprehensive Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) care and treatment