Assessing attitudes and high-risk practices to HIV/AIDS infection among the people of Lake Chad basin, Borno State, Nigeria

Abstract

A cross sectional quantitative survey that obtained information on high risk behaviours which expose individuals to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) especially HIV was carried out in Lake Chad Basin of Borno among 1,790 volunteers. A well-structured questionnaire was developed and used to collect the desired baseline sociodemographic characteristics by direct interview of respondents in their houses among the populations living in the ordinary households, the mobile population and vulnerable population group (VPG) not living in the households were interviewed in their places of abode with discretion. The mean age range of the participants was 32.5 years (SD + 2.21) ranging from 15 to 49 years. 1,234 (68.9%) of the respondents were males while 556 (31.1%) were females. The prison inmates had the highest prevalence of STIs, 37% of the respondents didn’t know that they were at risk of contracting HIV. The knowledge of HIV status was higher among the males (80.2%) than the females (19.3%). The use of male and female condom was higher among the rural (19.2%) than the urban (10.8%) respondents. This study revealed high risk practices among the respondents even though there is tremendous HIV test intake across both the general and vulnerable populations, there is need for more awareness as rate of risk perception is very low.