SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ AWARENESS OF ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME AIDS
CHAPTER ONE
THE STUDY’S BACKGROUND
During the last decade, a major epidemic unlike anything the world has ever seen has spread silently, steadily, and relentlessly across the globe. It is an epidemic that knows no social, economic, or religious boundaries. A disease that causes blame, rejection, and division within families and communities. The virus that causes the epidemic is known as the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV.
A person infected with HIV may not experience any symptoms for several years. However, the virus gradually attacks the body’s immune system, making it more vulnerable to infections. Advanced HIV disease, also known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). This will eventually lead to death.
AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, was not known to man until 1981. Today, it has a high media profile, particularly as a topic for public health programs. Aids is a devastating global plague that is not only a health issue, but also a social, economic, political, and development issue.
The HIV virus, which causes Aids, is transmitted through sexual contact with an infected person, needle sharing among injecting drug users, or transfusion of infected blood or blood clothing factors. According to Laino internet 2006, HIV-infected pregnant women can transmit the virus to their newborn infant before or during birth, or through breast feeding after birth.
Indeed, the spread of HIV is a problem that is getting worse by the day. According to the World Health Organization’s 1990 estimate, Aids will contribute about 3.3 percent of the global disease burden if left unchecked, and 1.8 billion people will die from it each year.
The World Health Organization (WHO) conducted a survey on December 13, 1994, in twenty one local government areas of Nigeria, and discovered that more than 5% of expectant mothers in Nigeria have Aids virus, while 961 people have fully developed Aids disease. According to the WHO report, 100,000 people are infected with the HIV virus strain.
These trends may have been confirmed when Ahmed 2002, speaking at an Eagged AIDS education project workshop organized by Rotary International for journalists and information officers, stated that the rate at which the dreaded disease was spreading in Kano state was alarming.
According to Ahmen (2002), from 1996 to 2002, the number of Aids cases in the state increased from 740 to 4, 047, with the majority of victims aged 17 to 20. Other states may follow a similar pattern. This development is concerning, given the link between the spread of AIDS and the increasing prevalence of prostitution among Nigerian adolescents in secondary schools and institutions of higher learning. (Notation by Ahmen, 2002.)
Given the foregoing, it has become critical to investigate the level of awareness of adolescents on AIDS-related issues. These have a significant impact on their personal health and well-being. An informed person, regardless of age, can make a difference in dealing with a problem. The goal of this study is to assess and ascertain the knowledge of AIDS among Nigerian adolescents, with a focus on secondary school students in the Oredo local government area of Edo state.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
AIDS, unlike most other diseases, poses a challenge not only to the world in general, but also to developing countries in particular. The purpose of this study is to look into the knowledge and awareness of Aids among adolescents in secondary school in the Oredo local government area of Edo state. Most adolescents in Nigeria are influenced by friends, media, and inexpensive literature.
Adolescents and even adults are misinformed about the Aids virus. They regard it as a raity, or white man’s disease, and no longer a threat.
Adolescents require a basic understanding of the clinical features of aids, the mode of transmission, and the associated risk of infection in order to maintain their own and other members of society’s health.
STUDY PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to determine the level of awareness of AIDS among adolescent secondary school students in the Oredo local government area of Edo state. The following basic assumption will be tested for the purposes of the study.
It is widely assumed that most adolescents lack in-depth knowledge compared to their secondary school counterparts. Finally, most adolescents are unaware of the mode of transmission of the AIDS virus.
QUESTIONS FOR RESEARCH
The following researchable question will be tested based on the above assumption.
1. What is the level of awareness of the mode of transmission of Aids among secondary school adolescents in Oredo local government?
2. What is the level of seriousness of Aids perceived by secondary school adolescents in Oredo local government?
3. Where can I find information on Aids among adolescents in secondary school?
THE STUDY’S IMPORTANCE
The purpose of this study was to determine the level of awareness of Aids among adolescents in the Oredo local government area of Edo state. The researcher believes that when the study is completed, it will advance knowledge in the field of education and serve as a reference source for future research.
The findings of this study will highlight Nigerian adolescent knowledge of Aids, particularly in secondary schools in Oredo.
TERMS DEFINITION
Aids is caused by a small virus known as “HIV.”
The virus only lives in humans and not in animals, insects, water, or the atmosphere.
Immunodeficiency: The virus causes the body’s immune or defense system to be less effective in protecting against disease.
Virus: Because a virus is a very small germ, the HIV virus is so small that a full stop at the end of a sentence can hold 230,000 of them. Once HIV has entered the bloodstream, it cannot be removed.
Sexuality is the feeling and activities associated with one’s own sexual desires.
Homosexuality: Sexual interest in and sexual activity with a person of the same sex.
Promiscuity is defined as having multiple sexual partners.
Rationale: The underlying principles or reasons for something.
Sex education is defined as the provision of sex knowledge or information.
Ambivalent: Having or displaying mixed feelings about a specific object, person, or situation.
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SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ AWARENESS OF ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME AIDS