Awareness Of HIV/AIDS Among Rural Communities In Kwara State And It’s Implications On Agricultural Productivity In Nigeria

This paper examined the level of awareness of HIV/AIDS among rural communities’ members of Kwara State. Structured questionnaire and Focus group discussion were employed to collect data from 417 membersof six selected communities. The people selected were male adult, female adults, male youths and female youths so that all the members of these communities were given opportunity to participate in the study.Simple statistical tools like mean, percentage and frequency tables were used to present the study. Results shows that about 46 percent of the respondents were illiterate and it was found that as much as about 75percent of them were ignorant about HIV/AIDS disease and its transmission. The study also revealed that about 83 percent of the respondents do not know signs of HIV/AIDS sickness. The study further revealed that only 8 percent of the respondents in all the sampled communities said they would not discriminate against people suffering from HIV/AIDS by eating or drinking with them while as much as 83 percent of the people in these communities do not have the knowledge of how to prevent themselves from contacting this disease. Thus the study painted a dismal state of awareness of HIV/AIDS in these communities and concluded that something has to be done and urgently too to prevent HIV/AIDS explosion in rural areas of Nigeria. Since proper and sufficient information dissemination in the best antidote for controlling this disease, it was therefore recommended that government at all levels must engage various apparatus at their disposal in collaboration with NGOs, traditional and religious institutions to facilitate efficient enlightenment of ruralpeople about HIV/AIDS, its transmission and prevention to enhance virile population for effective productivity and healthy livelihood