Odujinrin M T, Adebajo S B
Department of Community Health, College of Medicine of the University of Lagos, Idi-Araba, Nigeria.
West Afr J Med. 2001 Jul-Sep;20(3):191-8.
Although many behavioral research studies and public enlightenment campaigns have been undertaken by both government and non-governmental organizations in the general public, no such study has been documented on prison inmates in Nigeria. This study aimed at documenting the social characteristics, HIV/AIDS knowledge and preventive practices of selected prisoners in Nigeria. It also elicited risk factors HIV/AIDS transmission in Nigeria prisons.
A cross-sectional study of prison inmates using an anonymous risk-factors identification questionnaire was undertaken in January 1997. The Kiri-kiri (maximum, medium and female) prisons were selected by balloting. Thereafter, two hundred and fifty two inmates were selected by systematic random sampling method using the full listing of all inmates as at the time of the survey. The study comprised of an interview session using a well structured questionnaire to seek information about their social data, their knowledge about HIV/AIDS including its transmission and preventive social data, and their indulgence in HIV/AIDS risky behaviour.
The majority (53.6%) of the respondents were in the age group 20-29 years, 18 (7.1%) were less than 20 years old one of whom was in the maximum-security prison and three were females (table 1). The majority (52%) had secondary education while 9.9% had tertiary education and 7.1% had no formal education. About 97.2% of the study population had heard about AIDS although only 20.6% had known or seen someone with AIDS before and about 34.1% knew the causative agent of AIDS. 60.3% knew the correct mode of transmission of AIDS. 15.5% claimed fidelity and 12.7 % claimed use of condom for casual sexual contact, were measures that could help prevent AIDS but 7.9% did not know any preventive measure. Since hearing about AIDS, 59.5% claimed to have taken steps to protect themselves. 42.7% of the 89 who had not taken any protective steps against AIDS had no knowledge of how to protect themselves. About 56.3% claimed to have used condom before although only 38.7% used it for their last sexual exposure while 28.2% claimed they used it for all casual sexual intercourse. Many (42.8%) said they knew that homosexuality was the most prevalent sexual practice in the prison while 28.6% claimed there was no sexual practice and 13.1% feigned ignorance of any sexual practices in the prisons. Many (53.2%) claimed to have multiple sexual partners although 94.8% denied any sexual practice whilst still in prison.
This study demonstrated that (i) almost all THE prisoners studied had heard of AIDS although only a few had seen or known a case of AIDS; (ii) despite the fact that many of them knew the correct modes of transmission, many indulged in high risk behaviours for AIDS transmission; (iii) there is a considerable proportion of receptive naïve inmates who stand the risk of being infected due to their high level of ignorance about HIV/AIDS. Well designed information, education and communication (IEC) programmes on AIDS with such formidable support structures as the provision of harm-reduction devices and risk-reduction counselling are urgently recommended for the Nigerian prisoners to effectively combat the imminent HIV/AIDS epidemic among the prison inmates.
尽管政府和非政府组织在普通民众中开展了许多行为研究和公众宣传活动，但尼日利亚尚未有关于监狱囚犯的此类研究记录。本研究旨在记录尼日利亚部分囚犯的社会特征、艾滋病毒/艾滋病知识及预防措施，并找出尼日利亚监狱中艾滋病毒/艾滋病传播的风险因素。
1997年1月，采用匿名风险因素识别问卷对监狱囚犯进行了横断面研究。通过抽签选定了基里 - 基里（最高安全级、中级和女子）监狱。之后，以调查时所有囚犯的完整名单为基础，采用系统随机抽样方法选取了252名囚犯。该研究包括一个访谈环节，使用一份结构完善的问卷来获取有关他们的社会数据、对艾滋病毒/艾滋病的了解（包括其传播和预防社会数据）以及他们是否有艾滋病毒/艾滋病危险行为的信息。
大多数（53.6%）受访者年龄在20 - 29岁之间，18人（7.1%）年龄小于20岁，其中1人在最高安全级监狱，3人为女性（表1）。大多数（52%）接受过中等教育，9.9%接受过高等教育，7.1%未接受过正规教育。约97.2%的研究对象听说过艾滋病，尽管只有20.6%之前认识或见过艾滋病患者，约34.1%知道艾滋病的病原体。60.3%知道艾滋病的正确传播方式。15.5%声称保持忠诚，12.7%声称在偶然性行为中使用避孕套，这些措施有助于预防艾滋病，但7.9%不知道任何预防措施。自听说艾滋病以来，59.5%声称已采取措施保护自己。在89名未采取任何预防艾滋病措施的人中，42.7%不知道如何保护自己。约56.3%声称以前使用过避孕套，尽管只有38.7%在最近一次性接触中使用，28.2%声称在所有偶然性行为中都使用。许多人（42.8%）表示他们知道同性恋是监狱中最普遍的性行为，而28.6%声称没有性行为，13.1%假装不知道监狱中的任何性行为。许多人（53.2%）声称有多个性伴侣，尽管94.8%否认在监狱期间有任何性行为。
本研究表明，（i）几乎所有接受研究的囚犯都听说过艾滋病，尽管只有少数人见过或认识艾滋病患者；（ii）尽管他们中的许多人知道正确的传播方式，但许多人仍沉溺于艾滋病传播的高风险行为；（iii）有相当一部分易感染的无知囚犯，由于他们对艾滋病毒/艾滋病的高度无知而面临感染风险。迫切建议为尼日利亚囚犯设计完善的艾滋病信息、教育和宣传（IEC）项目，并提供诸如减少伤害设备和降低风险咨询等强大支持结构，以有效应对监狱囚犯中即将爆发的艾滋病毒/艾滋病疫情。
