Knowledge and attitude of physicians and nurses about AIDS in Sokoto, Nigeria

Abstract

Health care workers are expected to educate their clients, especially those at risk of infection, on how to prevent HIV, care for and support persons already infected, yet little is known about Nigerian health care workers' knowledge and attitude towards the disease. A sample of 90 physicians and 278 nurses in private and public practice was therefore interviewed using a questionnaire in Sokoto, a metropolis in northwestern Nigeria. Only 46.7% could correctly state the causative agent of Aids, but more physicians (30.7%) than nurses (16%) had correct knowledge on this (p<0.05). While 70% could name at least one route of HIV transmission, 30% incorrectly mentioned kissing, hand shake or mosquito bite as possible ways of contracting the virus. The 19.3% who believed that Aids was not yet present in Nigeria claimed that they had not yet seen any Nigerian living with HIV/Aids. Of the 27 health workers who had previously managed an Aids patient 48.1% would not like to do so in the future and 61.2% of those who had not cared for an Aids patient hoped that they would not, and 71.6% recommended that Aids patients should be isolated from other patients.We conclude that physicians and nurses in Sokoto are not yet sufficiently knowledgeable about Aids to be able to fulfil their professional roles in the prevention and control of this disease and that their biased attitude towards Aids patients may affect the quality of care such patients receive. In-service training, provision of relevant educational materials and inclusion of Aids education into training curricular are urgently needed.