Stigma,Discrimination,and Ostracization: HIV/AIDS Infection in Nigeria

Abstract

The AIDS epidemic continues and HIV-infected persons continue to suffer stigmatization and discrimination in Nigeria. The results of an open-ended questionnaire administered non-randomly in Ile-Ife and Ilesa in the late 1990s confirm this. Six questions on Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) were asked; 83 (36.4%) males and 145 (63.6%) females aged between 11 and 60 years responded. The respondents included 101 students, 49 civil servants, 39 artisans and traders. Others included 29 health professionals (doctors and nurses, etc.), 8 teachers, and 2 commercial sex workers. The median of negative responses (rejection) is 42.2%. It is concluded that there still exists a significant but suppressed or subtle stigmatization and discrimination against HIV-infected people, a major constraint in the management and control of HIV/AIDS.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Laryea

and Gien

, The Impact of HIV-Positive Diagnosis on the Individual. Part I: Stigma, Rejection and Loneliness, Clinical Nursing Research, 2: 3, pp. 245–263, 1993.

Selvin

, Changing Medical and Societal Attitudes toward Sexually Transmitted Diseases: An Historic Overview, in Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Holmes

K. K.

Mard

P. A.

Sparlling

P. F.

, and Wiesner

P. J.

(eds.), McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, pp. 39–50, 1984.

Lippman

S. B.

James

W. A.

, and Frierson

R. C.

, AIDS and the Family: Implications for Counselling, AIDS Care, 5: 1, pp. 71–78, 1993.

Retel-Laurentin

, Donnéés sur la pathologue Africaine: Masson et Cie-Editeurs Paris 6e. Infécondité en Afrique Noire (Maladies et Conséquences Sociales), p. 56, 1974.

Stempel

R. R.

Moulton

J. M.

, and Moss

, Self-Disclosure of HIV-1 Antibody Test-Result: The San Francisco General Hospital Cohort, AIDS Education and Prevention, 7: 2, pp. 116–123, 1995.

Gilmore

and Somerville

, Stigmatization, Scapegoating and Discrimination in Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Overcoming “Them” and “Us,” Social Science and Medicine, 39: 9, pp. 1339–1358, 1994.

Anderson

, Community Responses to AIDS, World Health Forum, 15: 1, pp. 35–38, 1994.