Relationship between knowledge of HIV/AIDS and sexual behaviour among in-school adolescents in Delta State, Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if there is any correlation between the knowledge of HIV/AIDS among in-school adolescents in Delta state of Nigeria and their sexual behaviour. METHOD: A questionnaire based descriptive study of randomly selected secondary school students in Asaba. Delta state. RESULTS: A total of 437 students were recruited for the study. About 47% of respondents had good knowledge of HIV/AIDS. The electronic media were their main sources of information. Fifty-eight percent had been sexually initiated but only 10% were currently sexually active. About 73% of the males and 58% of the females reported condom use in their last sexual act. Seventy-three percent of the students that had poor knowledge of HIV/AIDS had ever had sex compared with 69.5% of students with good knowledge. Similarly 45.6% of students with poor knowledge used condom compared with 58.8% who had good knowledge. However these observed differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Knowledge of HIV/AIDS by in-school adolescents in Asaba has not significantly influenced their sexual behavior. Program planners should explore and integrate other factors that could impact positively on adolescent sexual behavior.

Prevalence of byssinosis and other respiratory problems among textile mill workers in Asaba, Nigeria.

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to determine the distribution and severity of byssinosis and other respiratory problems in the different operation sections in a textile mill industry in Asaba. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional and analytic study in which workers directly exposed to cotton dust are compared with those not directly exposed to cotton dust at one point in time. RESULTS: A total of 735 workers were interviewed and 437 workers had respiratory examinations carried out on them. Byssinosis was diagnosed in 8 out of 405 workers (prevalence of 1.98%) who were not directly exposed to cotton dust, and 21 out of 330 workers (prevalence of 6.36%) who were directly exposed to cotton dust. The difference was found to be statistically significant (chi2 =9.25; df=1; 0.01