HIV knowledge and willingness to participate in new preventive technologies (NPT) trials among a Nigerian refugee population

OBJECTIVES Refugees in Nigeria unlike refugees in some other countries are not restricted to camps but interact freely with the general population. It is known that refugees act as a reservoir of  sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS within any population because of their vulnerable nature. This study was designed to assess their knowledge about HIV/AIDS and their willingness to participate in NPT trials. METHODS The subjects were recruited by simple random technique utilizing a list of camp inhabitants. The study was conducted utilizing standardized questionnaires with 37 structured questions administered by trained assistants. Two hundred and fifty two questionnaires administered randomly were analyzed using SPSS version 11. RESULTS The larger percentage (60.7%) of the respondents comprised  Liberians. Sierra-Leoneans constituted 30.7% of respondents. Other nationalities represented were Cameroonians, Congolese, Ghanaians, Ivorians and Sudanese. One hundred and twenty nine of the 252 respondents (51.2%) were females. The mean age was 27.7 years (SD ± 10.1years). Majority of the respondents (88.1%) had at least some secondary school education while 48.8% had lived in the refugee camp for 5 or more years prior to the survey. Most respondents with at least a secondary school education believed that HIV/AIDS can be cured using local herbs (p=0.021). Twenty-three (69.7%) of those who had used an illicit drug in the past one month were willing to subject themselves to clinical trials for HIV vaccine (p=0.06). Eighty-five respondents (45%) with less than secondary school education had never heard of microbicides compared with those (55%) who had a tertiary education or its equivalent (p=0.04). CONCLUSION More still needs to be done in educating this vulnerable group about HIV and also increasing awareness about NPT if we are to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS among refugees.