Simon Chijioke Udeh
The Acquired Immune-deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is predominantly a sexually transmitted disease. Presently, 80% of HIV positive people in Africa acquired it sexually while 10% acquire it through blood transfusion. The remaining 10% acquired through mother to child transmission, and contamination with infected materials. The new face of Human Immune Virus (HIV)/ Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has earned it recognition as a social problem due to the associated devastating social and cultural consequences on individuals and the society. The objective of this review was to determine the socio-cultural factors associated with HIV/AIDS transmission in Nigeria.
The review was conducted using PEN-3 Cultural model as a guide. Electronic search of published literature in Pub Med, Medline and national HIV sero-prevalence sentinel survey 2010 was used. The bulk of the secondary data was sourced from the reports of the Federal Ministry of Health, National Agency for the Control AIDS and the National Population Commission of Nigeria.
Findings indicated gender inequalities, polygamous marriage, early marriage, widow inheritance, multiple sexual practices, harmful traditional practices, stigma, etc are the factors promoting HIV/AIDS prevalence in Nigeria. Data from the national sentinel survey was used to produce various graphs to show the trend of HIV/AIDS at the national, state, urban, and rural areas across different age groups. HIV/AIDS is a social problem associated with human developmental process and interventions should focus on the entire societal development. Education and mass enlightenment are invaluable tools in achieving the desired goals to stem the tide.