Browsing by Author "Chiegil, R."
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Correlates of uptake of HIV testing among children and young adolescents in Akwa- Ibom state, Nigeria: a secondary data analysis of the Akwa-Ibom aids indicator survey, 2017(BMC Pediatrics, 2021) Adetoro, D.; Khamofu, H.; Badru, T.; Markson, J.; Adedokun, O.; Sandah-Abubakar, N.; Dafa, I.; Chen, M.; Chiegil, R.; Torpey, K.Background: In order to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, there is a need to significantly reduce the rate of new infection among children and young adolescents. Identifying the correlates of testing behaviour is necessary to improve HIV testing campaigns by refining messages that target individuals in this age group. The objective of this study was to determine the correlates of HIV testing among children and young adolescents in Akwa-Ibom, Nigeria. Methods: The outcome was a secondary data analysis of the 2017 Akwa-Ibom AIDS Indicator Survey. Data of 4037 children and young adolescents aged 0–14 years was assessed in this study. Analysis was done using STATA version 16. Chi-squared test and logistic regression models were used to measure association and its strength between uptake of HIV testing and some independent variables (child/caregiver’s age, sex, educational status, child’s location, caregiver’s knowledge of HIV and caregiver ever tested for HIV) at 5% significance level. Results: Result showed that only 14.2% of the children and young adolescents have been tested for HIV. Previous history of blood transfusion (AOR = 5.33, 95%C.I = 2.60–10.92, P = < 0.001), caregiver’s level of education (AOR = 2.67, 95%C.I = 1.30–5.51, P = 0.008) and caregiver ever tested for HIV (AOR = 8.31, 95%C.I = 5.67–12.19, P = < 0.001) were significantly associated with uptake of HIV testing. Conclusion: This study concludes that a large proportion of children and young adolescents in Akwa-Ibom state have never been tested for HIV. There is a need for HIV testing interventions to be targeted towards this age groups and their parents/guardian. Addressing the knowledge gap amongst caregivers especially in rural areas is crucial towards improving the effectiveness of HIV testing interventions.Item What Is the Economic Burden of Subsidized HIV/AIDS Treatment Services on Patients in Nigeria and Is This Burden Catastrophic to Households?(PLOS ONE, 2016) Etiaba, E.; Onwujekwe, O.; Torpey, K.; Uzochukwu, B.; Chiegil, R.Background A gap in knowledge exists regarding the economic burden on households of subsidized anti-retroviral treatment (ART) programs in Nigeria. This is because patients also incur non ART drug costs, which may constrain the delivery and utilisation of subsidized services. Methods An exit survey of adults (18+years) attending health facilities for HIV/AIDS treatment was conducted in three states in Nigeria (Adamawa, Akwa Ibom and Anambra). In the states, ART was fully subsidized but there were different payment modalities for other costs of treat ment. Data was collected and analysed for direct and indirect costs of treatment of HIV/ AIDS and co-morbidities’ during out-and in-patient visits. The levels of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) were computed and disaggregated by state, socio-economic status (SES) and urban-rural location of the respondents. Catastrophic Health Expenditure (CHE) in this study measures the number of respondents whose monthly ART-related household expenditure (for in-patient and out-patient visits) as a proportion of monthly non-food expen diture was greater than 40% and 10% respectively. Results The average out-patient and in-patient direct costs were $5.49 and $122.10 respectively. Transportation cost was the highest non-medical cost and it was higher than most medical costs. The presence of co-morbidities contributed to household costs. All the costs were cat astrophic to households at 10% and 40% thresholds in the three states, to varying degrees. The poorest SES quintile had the highest incidence of CHE for out-patient costs (p<0.0001). Rural dwellers incurred more CHE for all categories of costs compared to urban dwellers, but the costs were statistically significant for only outpatient costs. Conclusion ART subsidization is not enough to eliminate economic burden of treatment on HIV patients. Service decentralization to reduce travel costs, and subsidy on other components of HIV treatment services should be introduced to eliminate the persisting inequitable and high cost burden of ART services. Full inclusion of ART services within the benefit package of the National Health Insurance Scheme should be considered.