The prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus infection among pregnant women in rural settlements of Ebira-land.

In a cross sectional study undertaken to determine the spread of human immunodeficiency virus among pregnant women resident in rural settlements in Ebira-land, Kogi State, Nigeria, a study population was randomly drawn from women attending antenatal clinics in a Company Hospital and five Government Hospitals in the four Local Government Areas of Ebira-land. Blood specimens and personal data were obtained from one hundred and five women attending the clinics. For this study, serological HIV assay kits were employed. It was discovered that the prevalence of HIV 1 was 0.95%. The only HIV positive woman is in the age group 25-29 year old with an average socio-economic status. Since no HIV prevalence study has ever been carried out in rural settlements in Ebira-land, this study thus provided a base line for further studies (including surveillance, interventions, etc.) on HIV spread in rural settlements in Ebira-land. This study has also revealed that there is an urgent need for HIV prevention/education program in rural settlements in Ebira-land, in order to contain the existing low prevalence and to forestall future epidemics. Keywords: AIDS, antenatal, pregnancy, seroprevalenceInternational Journal of Biological and Chemical Sciences Vol. 2 (1) 2008 pp. 123-12