Knowledge gap about HIV/AIDs and stigma associated beliefs in an urban Community in Southwest Nigeria: Implication for social work

Objectives: In Nigeria, over the years, community beliefs regarding HIV strongly influence stigma and discrimination experienced by People Living with HIV (PLHIV). Perception about its transmission has led to loss of income/livelihood, loss of marriage & childbearing options, poor care within the health sector, withdrawal of care-giving in the home, loss of hope & feelings of worthlessness as well as loss of reputation in the society. This study assessed community awareness and perception about HIV/AIDS in Osogbo Local Government, Osun State.Materials and Methods: It is a cross sectional descriptive survey. A total of 449 respondents were selected using multi stage sampling technique.Result: Alittle less than half i.e 208 (46.3%) believed that HIV can be transmitted through kissing, and 114 (25.4%) through hugging. One hundred and eleven (24.7%) believed that it is an act of God's punishment. Some respondents, 140(31.2%) believed that infected individuals should not get married, 67 (14.9%) will not keep friendship with infected individuals, 76 (16.9%) will not employ infected individual while 333(74.2%) believed infected individuals should be secluded from the society. Alittle less than half i.e 209 (46.5%) are yet to do HIV test. A significant association was found between occupation, educational status and the perception about PLHIV(p=0.000)Conclusion: There is high level of awareness about HIV among studied respondents. This pattern was however marred with misconceptions together with discriminating and stigmatizing tendencies, which could affect response to HIV scourge prevention . Therefore, continuous health ducation through health talks and mass media exposure will be helpful to improve misconception about HIV transmission and treatment.Keywords: Community; perception; HIV/AIDS; people living with HIV/AID