HIV/AIDS in North-Eastern Nigeria: A review

The HIV/AIDS situation in Nigeria has undergone a lot of transformation following a long period that was plagued by superstition and denial. The HIV Sero Prevalence Sentinel Surveys were conducted among the antenatal clinic (ANC) attendees in Nigeria being considered to be a homogenous community of persons with steady sexual partners. Included in the survey were pregnant women aged between 15 to 49 years of age from rural and urban areas across all the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The clinic attendance pattern at enrollment from one of the HIV/AIDS care clinics in the zone was also added, to highlight the burden of the problem. The recent survey revealed that the National prevalence of HIV stands at 4.1%, although there are centers that recorded prevalence rates far greater than the national average in many zones of the country. We later discussed the epidemiology of the disease in the northeast region with some peculiarities that encourage the spread of HIV/AIDS, especially related to this part of Nigeria.   Key words: HIV/AIDS, prevalence, Nigeria, north-east zone.