Female genital tract malignancies in Uyo, South-South Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Female genital tract malignancies cause a significant number of deaths in the developing world. These deaths are however usually overshadowed by maternal deaths from obstetric causes. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: A retrospective study of all histologically confirmed female genital tract malignancies seen in the histopathology department of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital between January 2000 and December 2004. RESULTS: Sixty five female genital tract malignancies were studied. Majority of patients were in the fifth to seventh decades of life. Carcinoma of the cervix was the commonest cancer seen (49.2%) followed by ovarian cancer (21.5%). Carcinoma of the vulva was the least common cancer seen (1.5%). Squamous cell carcinoma was the commonest histological variety. CONCLUSION: Female genital tract malignancies are major causes of morbidity and mortality in Nigeria. There is thus a need for public enlightenment to increase the awareness of risk factors and the provision of regular cervical cancer screening services which should be free to encourage utilisation.

Attitude of antenatal attendees to people living with HIV/AIDS in Uyo, south-south Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Stigmatization and discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS has a negative impact on the global efforts to control the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Due to fear of stigmatization and discrimination, many people are reluctant to undergo voluntary counseling and testing, infected individuals are often unwilling to disclose their status and some of them still engage in high-risk behaviours leading to increased transmission of the virus. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: A study of the attitudes to people living with HIV/AIDS was carried out among antenatal clinic attendees at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital with the aim of developing site-specific information and counseling interventions to reduce stigmatization and discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS. Information was elicited from 265 randomly selected women who booked for antenatal care between September and December 2005 with the use of a self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: 263 questionnaires were duly completed and analyzed. The mean age of the respondents was 27 ± 5.1 years, majority of them (52.1%) were either unemployed or unskilled workers and 42.9% of them had tertiary education. Awareness and knowledge of HIV/ AIDS was high, (95.8%) and (86.7%) respectively. Majority of the respondents (55.6%) were also assessed as having a positive attitude to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). There was a statistically significant association between good knowledge of HIV/AIDS and a positive attitude to PLWHA (P=0.000) and a high educational status with a positive attitude to PLWHA (P=0.009). CONCLUSION: combating stigma and discrimination is an important process in controlling the epidemic. Specific information and counseling interventions aimed at dispelling misconceptions about HIV/AIDS should be reinforced.