Comparison of Rural and Urban Women Awareness of HIV/AIDS Prevention Programme in Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study focused on the comparison of rural and urban awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention programmes among adult women in Osun State, Nigeria. Multistage Sampling Technique was used to select One hundred and fifty-six (156) adult women from four (4) local government areas. The variables considered in the study include: selected personal characteristics of women such as age, marital status, level of education, religion; sources of awareness of HIV/AIDS programmes, factors responsible for awareness of HIV/AIDS programmes and effectiveness of media communicating HIV/AIDS programmes.The results of the study showed that majority of the sampled women (70%) were adults, and married (66.7%). Most engaged in trading (42%) and farming (39.1%). Forty-two percent 42.2% were Christians while 56.0% of them were Muslim. Adult women with non-formal education were 32.7%, while 31.4% attended adult education programme and 35.9% of them had formal education. Majority of the women in rural (83.6%) and urban (96.2%) areas were aware of prevention and control programme of HIV/AIDS. However, high proportion (82.1%) of them were not aware of Prevention of HIV/AIDS Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT), of these, 78.2% were not aware of Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT), while 70.% the respondents were aware.There was a significant difference between access to medical services (124, p<0.05), radio programme listenership (172, p<0.05); attendance of educational institution (.334, p<0.05), contact with community health workers (172, p<0.05), participation in church programme (.372, p<0.05) and awareness of HIV/AIDS programmes.The study, thus recommends the following: quality educational structure, good access to HIV prevention and treatment by making anti-retroviral regimens (ARV) available and affordable by PLWHA, and integration of PMTCT and VCT programmes into National Primary Health Care delivery, so as to scale up awareness at grass root level.