ATTITUDE OF NURSES TOWARDS THE CARE OF HIV/AIDS PATIENTS IN AKWA IBOM STATE CASE STUDY OF IKOT EKPENE GENERAL HOSPITAL
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Since the discovery of Human Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in the early 1980s, it has become a pandemic on a global scale (Maijama and Mohamed, 2010). HIV is a virus that attacks the human white blood cells called T-Helper cells (the very cells that would normally get rid of a virus) and replicate within those cells. HIV causes AIDS while AIDS is a disease caused by a deficiency in the body’s immune system. It is caused by HIV (Hubley, 1995).
The origin of the HIV/AIDS has puzzled scientists ever since the illness came to lime light in the early1980s; the first reported case being in California in 1981. The key facts surrounding the origin of AIDS are currently unknown, particularly where and when the endemic began, though it is said that it originated from the apes in Africa (UNAIDS, 2006). For instance, the researchers (led by Paul sharp of Nothingham University and Beatrice Hahn of the University of Alabama) made the discovery during the course of a 10 year long study into the origins of the virus. They claimed that the sample proved that chimpanzees were the source of HIV-1 and that the virus had at some point crossed species from chimps to human. This claim supports one of the theoretical views on the origin of HIV – ‘The Hunter Theory’ – which is the most commonly accepted theory. This theory states that the SIVCPZ virus was transferred to human as a result of chimps being killed and eaten or their blood getting into cuts or wounds of hunters. The incidence of HIV/AIDS among infants, children, adolescents, and people of reproductive age has risen rapidly due to sexual abuse and indiscriminate use of contaminated blood and instruments, and Nurses cannot avoid HIV/AIDS patients (Davids and Houghton, 1995).
The impact of the pandemic is already being felt in most countries of the world. According to UNAIDS and WHO (2006), an estimate of 11 persons become infected every minute representing about 15,000 new infections every day or more than 5.4 million for the entire year. Similarly, Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (2004), estimated that as at 2003, about 38 million persons were HIV positive worldwide and almost 26 million were workers between 15 and 49 years of age, and of the 2.9 million HIV/AIDS related deaths in 2003, 2.2 million were from sub-saharan Africa (UNAIDS, 2006). Sub-Saharan Africa remains by far the worst affected region, with 23.8 million to 28.9 million people living with HIV/AIDS as at the end of 2005, 1 million more than in 2003, and globally 64% of all people living with HIV/AIDS are in Sub-Saharan Africa (UNAIDS/WHO, 2006).
In South Africa, there is an estimated 5.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS, 2006). In short, in the South African hospitals, almost half of admitted patients (46.2%) were found to be HIV infected (Shissana et al., 2002). Nigeria being the most populous country in Africa is fast gaining its share of the HIV/AIDS scourge. UNIADS (2006) reveals that Nigeria has the highest prevalence rate in West Africa sub-region and the third highest prevalence of any country in the world with a 5% population prevalence rate, that is over 3.6 million people are already infected with HIV. The rapid rise in the incidence of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) has caused much tension, anxieties and negative attitude among members of the public and health care providers especially the nurses. In reality, the fear of being infected at work places had led to irrational discriminatory treatment of PLWHA (Agamolaer et al., 2009).
ATTITUDE OF NURSES TOWARDS THE CARE OF HIV/AIDS PATIENTS IN AKWA IBOM STATE CASE STUDY OF IKOT EKPENE GENERAL HOSPITAL