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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Henry A. Obamuyide, MBBS, Gilead Medical Centre, Plot 282, Close D, 111 Road, Gowon Estate, Ipaja, Lagos, 100006, Nigeria, 00234 803 465 1512, bayo_obamuyide@yahoo.com

Background: Nigeria is home to 3.3 million People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWA). Lagos, with 10% of the country's population is served mainly by private health facilities. Human rights violation is a major barrier to prevention efforts and access to care in PLWA. There is paucity of data on the awareness and respect of the rights of PLWA by physicians in these facilities. Methods: This was a descriptive study. Thirty-seven physicians working in 16 private hospitals were surveyed each with a questionnaire and the results analyzed with SPSS. Results: All the physicians had attended to PLWA. For ten basic questions on the rights of PLWA, the mean score was 8. A quarter had poor scores (<7). Scores were negatively correlated with age(r = -0.412). Although just more than one tenth (13.5) disagreed with informing patients before testing them for HIV, almost a fifth (18.9) do not; they prefer to inform the partner first of a positive test result. Of the four-fifth who took informed consent for testing, only 16.7% identified usual hospital practice as being the reason. Conclusion: The awareness and respect of the rights of PLWA by private hospital physicians in Lagos, Nigeria appears low. Older physicians seem to be worse in this regard. Lack of a formal usual practice concerning the rights of PLWA seems important. A targeted education of private hospital physicians on the rights of the PLWA, with a follow up CME is essential. Private hospitals need to develop a clear policy regarding the treatment of PLWA.

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