Community-based intervention is necessary for the control of HIV in North-Central Nigeria

Objectives: To determine factors associated with the observed high prevalence of HIV in North-Central Nigeria. Methods: In a cross-sectional multisite study conducted in 2007, behavioral, medical, and demographic data were obtained from pregnant women (N = 1011) who were tested for the presence of antibody against HIV-1 and HIV-2. Results: The overall prevalence of HIV-1 in the 1011 women included in the study was 10.3% (95% confidence interval (CI) 8.4-12.2). In the multivariate analysis, HIV-1 seropositivity was significantly associated with women from the Makurdi (odds ratio (OR) 31.3, 95% CI 3.8-255.7) and Minna (OR 15.4, 95% CI 1.7-135.1) sites in comparison with Panyam site. The presence of tuberculosis (OR 10.7, 95% CI 2.4-48.3) was also significantly associated with HIV-1 seropositive status. Factors associated with HIV-1 also differed between sites. The presence of antibody against HIV-2 was not observed. Conclusions: The high HIV-1 prevalence observed in this study corroborates previous observations in North-Central Nigeria. Disparity in the prevalence across communities was also seen. This is the only detailed socio-epidemiological and behavioral study that has explored potential factors associated with HIV-1 in North-Central Nigeria, and it revealed that differences in risk factors explain the disparity in prevalence across communities. (c) 2012 International Society for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.