Awareness and Knowledge of HIV Transmission and Prevention among Military Personnel in Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

Aims: To assess the level of knowledge of HIV transmission and prevention and identify factors influencing the awareness of HIV transmission and prevention among military personnel in Nigeria.
 Study design: A cross-sectional study.
 Place and duration of study: The Nigerian Defense Headquarters, Abuja, Nigeria.
 Methodology: Using the stratified probability sampling technique, military personnel between the age of 18 and 55 years, were recruited based on arm of service with a percentage distribution of 60:20:20 (Army, Navy, and Air Force respectively). The sample size(n) was 384 and the adjusted sample size was 427 respondents. The tool for data collection was a semi-structured self-administered questionnaire. This instrument, divided into 3 sections, was designed to obtain information on socio-demographics (sex, age, ethnic background, education level as the highest level of education attainment, experience in the military; the arm of service, rank, length of service, gender and number of sexual partners, knowledge of HIV prevention, and perception of risk of HIV transmission. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square tests, and logistic regression at p<0.05.
 Results: While 98.5% of respondents have ever heard of HIV, 80.3% claimed to have seen or heard information about HIV, with media (85.9%) been the major source of this information. Out of the 391 respondents, 174 (44.5%) and 217 (55.5%) military personnel had inadequate and adequate knowledge of HIV transmission respectively while 80.8% and 19.2% of these respondents had inadequate and adequate knowledge of HIV prevention, respectively.
 Conclusions: While there was no significant difference in the proportion of those military men that had adequate and inadequate knowledge of HIV transmission, there was a clear and significant difference in the proportion of military men with adequate and inadequate prevention knowledge. Age, education, marital status, and service arm are predictive factors that could influence knowledge of HIV transmission and prevention.