Attitudes of Health Care Providers to Persons Living With HIV/AIDS in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the knowledge, beliefs and attitudes of nurses and laboratory technologists towards people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA) and the factors responsible for these attitudes. Information was elicited from 254 randomly selected nurses and laboratory technologists from 15 government owned health facilities in Lagos State with the use of a structured questionnaire. Results indicate that most of the respondents (96.3%) had moderate to good knowledge of HIV/AIDS. Respondents' level of knowledge was influenced by the level of formal education attained, length of practice, gender and attendance at refresher courses on HIV/AIDS (p <Afr J Reprod Health>Afr J Reprod Health 2003; 7[1]: 103-112)

Keywords: AIDS, HIV, attitude, health care providers, PLWA