AFRO-NETS> Undergraduates and AIDS scourge in Nigeria

[A Odutola <chpss_abo@yahoo.com>]

Undergraduates and AIDS scourge in Nigeria
------------------------------------------

Vanguard Editorial Opinion
Posted: 11/26/02

The cankerworm of Human Immune-Deficiency Virus (HIV) is gradually 
putting the custodian of Nigerian?s posterity ­ the youths at a 
peril. 

At the 10th anniversary lecture of the Family Health and Population 
Action Committee (FAPHAC), in Ibadan Oyo State, Professor Oladimeji 
Oladepo, Head, Department of Health Promotion and Education of the 
College of Medicine, University of Ibadan exposed the high AIDS car-
rier risks among undergraduates of the University.

In a survey on high-risk sexual behaviour for HIV/AIDS transmission 
among unmarried undergraduates of the University, it was discovered 
that out of 51 student volunteers, 15.7 per cent (about four out of 
every 25 students) tested positive to HIV. The average age was put at 
29.3.

Also, the Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey in another study 
found that first sexual intercourse among adolescence has fallen form 
16 years in 1990 to 13.5 years in 1999 while sex with multiple part-
ners is now a vogue, which the country is relapsing into. HIV that 
was first discovered in the country in 1986 has reached a stage where 
six out of every hundred Nigerians have it. By year 2001, 5.8 million 
people have been infected.

We are alarmed at the revelation coming out of the study conducted on 
51 student volunteers of the University of Ibadan. It is something 
that should cause insomnia amongst health policy makers and the en-
tire political leadership of the country. From the result coming from 
the pioneering citadel of learning in Ibadan, it is obvious that 
promiscuity is now a way of life among our undergraduates. 

This has a far reaching implication on the future of the country. If 
four out of every 25 male students in Ibadan have AIDS then, the re-
sult is reflective of what obtains in universities across the federa-
tion. Some university campuses in cosmopolitan cities like Lagos and 
Kano are known to be haven to students who trade their bodies for 
money.

To prevent a total ruination of the generation of the nation?s future 
leaders to the AIDS scourge, there is the need for a positive govern-
mental policy to minimize and discourage the promiscuous attitude of 
Nigerians.

This could be done if the government minimizes the level of poverty 
in the country. Urbanization and rapid rural-urban migration of 
youths, peer pressure and weakening traditional value system are some 
of the reasons why promiscuity is high amongst university undergradu-
ates, nay the nation?s youths. All these must be addressed.

There is the need to reduce the spread of HIV and other venereal dis-
eases such as gonorrhea, syphilis, trichomoniasis and chlamydia be-
fore they destroy the lives of our young folks. This may mean the de-
struction of the future of this country.

It is important that the United Nations International Children Emer-
gency Fund?s (UNICEF) projection that additional five million Nigeri-
ans risk HIV infection by 2009 should not be allowed to come to pass. 
This is important in the interest of the entire country. 

--
Source: 
Vanguard Editorial Opinion, Tuesday, November 26, 2002. Pg: 14.

--
To send a message to AFRO-NETS, write to: afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe, write to: majordomo@usa.healthnet.org
in the body of the message type: subscribe afro-nets OR unsubscribe afro-nets
To contact a person, send a message to: afro-nets-help@usa.healthnet.org
Information and archives: http://www.afronets.org