ABSTRACT
The main purpose
of this study is to determine the knowledge, perception and attitude of
secondary school students towards reducing HIV/AIDS in Enugu North LGA of Enugu
State. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of
the study consisted of five public schools from nine public schools in Enugu
North LGA of Enugu State. 100 students were sampled out of 1908 students from
five public schools in Enugu North LGA of Enugu state. Three structured
research questions were used based on knowledge, perception and attitude of
senior secondary school students towards reducing HIV/AIDS. The instruments
were validated by two expects from measurement and evaluation, research and
statistics. The questionnaire were administered and collected by the researcher
and mean was used to analyze the data collected. The results from the analyses
showed that students’ knowledge, perception and attitude towards HIV/AIDS have
a great impact in reducing HIV/AIDS. Some recommendations were made such as
students should be enlightened on sex education and sexual transmitted
diseases, people especially hunters should avoid eating bush meat since some
have simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVcpz) which can be adopted into it host
to become HIV-1, Curriculum planners should implement peer education in the
curriculum of secondary school students to enable them improve on their awareness
and attitude towards HIV/AIDS.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
to the study
HIV stands
for Human Immunodeficiency Virus and it affects only human beings. It attacks
the human immune system, the body’s defence against invading diseases. It
damages the immune system by systematically destroying an important type of
white blood cell, CD4 cells or T-cells (Williams, 2000). On the other hand,
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is the last phase of HIV infection
.When the body is severely weakened by HIV, it can be attacked by a number of
serious conditions which is then referred to as AIDS (Kawanza, 1999). HIV is a
virus that damages the immune system. The immune system helps the body fight
off infections. Untreated HIV infects and kills CD4 cells, which are a type of
immune cell called T- cells. Over time, as HIV kills more CD4 cells, the body
is more likely to get various types of infections and cancers. HIV is a
lifelong condition and currently there is no cure, although many scientists are
working to find one. However, with medical care, including treatment
called antiretroviral therapy, it’s possible to manage HIV and live with the
virus for many years. Without treatment, a person with HIV is likely to develop
a serious condition called AIDS. At that point, the immune system is too weak
to fight off other diseases and infections. Untreated, life expectancy with
AIDS is about three years. With antiretroviral therapy, HIV can be well-controlled and life
expectancy can be nearly the same as someone who has not contracted HIV.
HIV kills CD4 cells.
Healthy adults generally have a CD4 count of 500 to 1,500 per cubic
millimeter. A person with HIV whose CD4 count falls below 200 per cubic millimeter will be diagnosed with AIDS.
A person can also be diagnosed with AIDS if they have HIV and
develop an opportunistic infection or cancer that’s rare in people who don’t have HIV. An
opportunistic infection, such as pneumonia, is one that takes advantage of a
unique situation, such as HIV.(Daniel, 2018)
Untreated, HIV can progress to AIDS within a decade. There’s no
cure for AIDS, and without treatment, life
expectancy after diagnosis is about three years. This may be shorter if the
person develops a severe opportunistic
illness. However, treatment with antiretroviral drugs can prevent AIDS from
developing. If AIDS does develop, it means that the immune system is severely
compromised. It’s weakened to the point where it can no longer fight off most
diseases and infections. That makes the person vulnerable to a wide range of
illnesses, including: pneumonia, tuberculosis, oral thrush, a fungal infection in the mouth or throat, cytomegalovirus
(CMV), a type of herpes virus, cryptococcal meningitis, a fungal infection in the brain, toxoplasmosis, a brain infection caused by a parasite and cryptosporidiosis, an infection caused by an intestinal parasite( Daniel, 2018)
There were
approximately 36.7 million people living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2016
(Global data from UNAIDS, 2016). Of these, 2.1 million were children (15 years
old). An estimated 1.8 million individuals worldwide became newly infected with
HIV in 2016, about 5000 new infections per day. This includes 160,000 children
(15 years). Most of these children live in Sub-Sahara Africa and were infected
by their positive mothers during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding. As of
July 2017, 20.9 million people living with HIV were accessing antiretroviral
therapy (ART) globally, up from 2015,
7.5 million in 2010, and less than one million died from AIDS-related illness
in 2016, bringing the total number of people who have died of AIDS-related
illness since the start of the epidemic to 35.0 million(Global data from
UNAIDS, 2016).
HIV is a
retrovirus with the affinity for CD4 cells of immune system. It is transmissible
in the body fluid, which includes blood and blood products, semen, vaginal
secretions, breast milk and saliva; any activity which results in the entry of
infected fluid into the body of healthy individuals leads to infections. Such
activities include intercourse (be it heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual
activities or oral sex), transfusion of unscreened blood and vertical
transmission from infected mother to child at delivery and also during breast
feeding.
Other ways
through which HIV can be transmitted is through sharing of needles when
shooting drugs, Home tattooing and body piercing, accidental needle sticks,
Organ transplantation, incision of tribal marks (a popular act amongst the
Igalas, Yorubas, Igbos, Hausas, Tivs), circumcision, manicure and pedicure
(especially for females), shaving of hair in barbing saloons, kissing with
bruised gums, sharing of toothbrushes, e.t.c. The key populations most affected
by HIV in Nigeria are sex workers with an HIV prevalence of 14.4 percent, Gay
men and other men who have sex with men, with a prevalence of 23 percent and
people who inject drugs with an HIV prevalence of 3.4 percent (Nigeria UNAIDS,
2016).
Nigeria has
the second largest HIV epidemic in the world and has one of the highest new
infection rates in Sub-sahara Africa Nigerian (UNAIDS, 2016). Many people
living with HIV in Nigeria are unaware of their status due to the country
falling short of providing the recommended number of testing and counseling
sites.
In Enugu
State, the prevalence rate of Acquired
Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is undulating making them the fourth in the
country and the highest in the south
Eastern Nigeria(ENSACA, 2005.) Enugu State Action committee on AIDS, estimated
the number of HIV carriers at Enugu ranging from 5.2% in 2003 and 6.5% in 2005 and they attributed it to factors
like poverty, ignorance, early, debut stigma and discrimination, multiple sex
network e.t.c (ENSACA, 2005). This area of the study is Enugu State and is
important to know the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in order to enlighten the students
on how to take care of themselves.
Knowledge
is a social acts (Firestone and MCElroy, 2003). It is an understanding premised
on experience (Firestone and MCElroy, 2003). Knowledge is experience or
information that can be communicated or shared (Christensen 2001) based on
information and experience. Knowledge is to be aware of something through
observation, inquiry or information. The knowledge that students have about
HIV/AIDS will be beneficial in dealing with HIV/AIDS
Perception
is concerned with the process by which our five senses are organized and
interpreted (Solomon and Rabolt, 2004). Perception can be defined as the
process by which an individual selects, organizes and interprets stimuli into a
meaningful and coherent picture of the world (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000).
Perception is the ability to see, hear and become aware of something through
the senses and also the way in which something is understood, regarded and
interpreted. How students see HIV/AIDS, interprets it and people living with HIV/AIDS
matters in this study because it will help to reduce it.
Attitude is
central to understanding human being’s unique ability to create elaborate
predispositions and evaluations based on their social experiences (Joseph P, 2010).
Attitude is
a lasting organization’s beliefs and cognitions in general, endowed with an
emotional charge in a favour or against a defined object, which predisposes to
a consistent action with cognitions and emotions relating to the object; It is
a settled way of thinking.
Adolescences,
which is from 11-19 years,(Secondary school students arte within this age
bracket); It begins at the end of childhood and closes at the beginning of
adulthood (Conger, Kegan and Mussen, 2004). Adolescents have a tendency to
engage in high risk sexual and drug-use behaviours, and with a poor
health-seeking knowledge, they continue to present the highest number of new
cases of HIV reported in Nigeria and in Africa as a continent. The adolescent
period is a time of vulnerability during which internal conflict caused by
hormonal changes, influence of peer group, Societal pressures, norms and values
and economic situations all contribute to mould the character and behaviours
that are carried into adulthood (Fernadez, Figueuroa, Hunter, Gomez, 2008).
Thus they
continue to present the highest number of cases of HIV reported in Africa with
about 50% or 7000 young people aged 15-24 years being infected each day and
globally 10 million people aged 13-24 years infected in the last decades (WHO,
2002). The levels of accurate knowledge adolescence have about the cause and
nature of HIV/AIDS, the method of spread and preventive measures will greatly
influence their attitude towards the disease entity itself and people living
with it, as well as result in a change in their sexual behaviours in favour of
abstinence or at least a lower practice of unsafe sex. Even where there seems
to be a high level of knowledge about AIDS, closer investigation will reveal
that this knowledge is oftentimes incorrect and most adolescent lacks the
skills and knowledge to protect them against AIDS (Fawole, Ansuzu, Odunta and
Brieger, 1999). It has been documented that students that have knowledge of
HIV/AIDS show a healthy attitude towards HIV/AIDS (Lau and Lee, 2010).
Human
developments gain painstakingly accrued over generations have been wiped out in
a matter of a few years in the worst affected countries. In the absence of
vaccines against HIV/AIDS, there is need for research into issues concerning
preventive measures among the risk groups (UNAIDS/WHO, 2002). Of the five
countries with the highest number of aids cases four are found in Africa with
Nigeria having the second highest number of cases on the continent (Ejembi,
2001).
From the
above, the study is set to discover the knowledge, perception and attitude of
secondary school students towards reducing HIV/AIDS in Enugu north LGA of Enugu
state.
Statement
of the Problem
The issues
associated with knowledge perception and attitudes of senior secondary school
students towards reducing HIV/AIDS for a short while ago is not
encouraging because students’ knowledge,
perception and attitude on HIV/AIDS
reduction is not good. Students have failed to take the awareness and
knowledge of HIV/AIDS in senior secondary school seriously. Rather they
ignorantly contact the disease through unprotected sex and other means.
The
researcher however intends to know the appropriate or correct means of
educating the students, imparting knowledge to them and creating more awareness
to tame the rising tide of HIV/AIDS among the populace. If this problem is not
properly handled, students will likely be infected with disease because they do
not take HIV/AIDS awareness and education seriously and also people with
HIV/AIDS will die due to stigmatization. The researcher was spurred into this
work following total lack of knowledge, perception and poor attitude of
students towards the dehumanizing effect of HIV/AIDS in Enugu North LGA of
Enugu state. Hence the question what is the knowledge, perception and attitudes
of students towards reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS among students in Enugu
North Local Government area of Enugu state.
Purpose of
the Study
The major
purpose of the study is to determine the knowledge, perception and attitude of
senior secondary school students towards reducing HIV/AIDS in Enugu North Local
Government Area of Enugu state. The study specifically seeks to:
1. Find out the level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS among senior
secondary school students in Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State.
2. Determine the perception of senior secondary students in Enugu
North Local Government Area of Enugu State towards people living HIV/AIDS.
3. Determine the attitude of senior secondary school students towards
reducing HIV/AIDS in Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State.
Significance
of the study
The
findings of the study would be significant both theoretically and practically.
Theoretically the study is based on Social Action Theory which was developed as
an extension of individual’s level on psychological methods to address the
broad complexities of public health. The overarching goal is the detection and
manipulation of environmental and self-regulating skills/deficits that can
promote health behaviours and habits. The findings would help students to
promote their health behaviours and self regulatory skills which would be
beneficially in HIV/AIDS reduction.
Practically,
the findings of the study will benefit the students, teachers, parents, society
and all vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.
To the
students, this study will be of help to them in understanding the negative
effects of HIV/AIDS, to appreciate sex education and avoid illicit sex, to know
how to treat people with HIV/AIDS
To the
teachers, the findings of the study will help them to know the importance of
sex education and the need to educate the students on sex to reduce HIV/AIDS.
To the
society, the findings of the study will help to bring a better individual which
will produce a better society. The knowledge got from this study will bring
about reduction in HIV/AIDS victims through sex education.
All those
vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, the study will educate them on how to manage the
disease, live freely with others and maintain a normal life like everyone.
Scope of
the study
This study is to determine the knowledge,
perception and attribute of senior secondary school students towards reducing
HIV/AIDS in Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State. The age range of
the population to be studied will be between 14 years to 21 years including
male and female students.
Research
Questions
The
following research question guided the study
1. What is the level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS among senior
secondary school students in Enugu north LGA of Enugu State.
2. What is the perception of secondary school students towards people
living with HIV/AIDS
3. What is the attitude of students towards reducing HIV/AIDS in
Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State?
================================================================
Item Type: Project Material | Attribute: 55 pages | Chapters: 1-5
Format: MS Word | Price: N3,000 | Delivery: Within 30Mins.
================================================================
No comments:
Post a Comment