HIV/AIDS: KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS AMONG UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. A RESEARCH PROJECT MATERIAL ON PHARMACY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1  BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The Acquired Immune Deficiency which Syndrome (AIDS), is caused by the virus Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), was first discovered in the 1980 in the United States of America, and now it has spread like flood over the globe (UNAIDS, 2001). At the first discovery of the deadly sickness, it was recorded that 21.8 million people died as a result of it. A breakdown from this data shows that 13.2 million orphaned by AIDS worldwide since the first incident; Ninety-five percent (95%) of them live in Africa. Similarly, it is estimated that about 25.3 million Africans live with HIV or AIDS, with about 150,000 infected on a daily basis (Peltzer et al., 2002). It is observed that this deadly ailment mostly struck young adults between ages 25-45yrs. The record for adolescent is about 60 percent of those infected in many countries; reason being that they are one of the most vulnerable because of the physical, psychological, social and economic attributes of adolescence. For instance, they are more often seen engaging in the following activities sex (heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual activities or oral sex), smoking, tattooing, taking drugs (such as marijuana and cocaine), manicure/pedicure, kissing with bruised gum, and drinking alcohol; which at the end of the day leads to contracting HIV/AIDS (Rwenger 2003).

In addition, it has been estimated that 60 percent of Nigerians infected with HIV/AIDS are youths between ages 13 to 25 (UNAIDS Report, 2005). This has greatly affected the workforce of the country as youths make up the greater percentage of workforce of any country.

However, it has been reported that the level of awareness about HIV/AIDS by universities undergraduate is very low, they have little knowledge, alongside many misconceptions about it (Costin et al. 2002). Similarly, University of Lagos undergraduates have knowledge about HIV/AIDS to an extent, at least the various modes of transmission like blood transfusion, sexual contact, and share of sharp objects; but the problem lies in their misconception on its transmission. It is obvious the students are familiar with the term but most of them believe HIV/AIDS can be transmitted kissing, hugging and shaking of hands.