Socio-Economic Factors and Awareness of HIV/AIDS among Rural Women Farmers in Ebonyi State, Nigeria: Issues for Guidance and Counselling (Published)
This study analyzed the socio-economic factors influencing rural women farmers’ awareness of HIV/AIDs in Ebonyi State, Nigeria: Issue for Guidance and Counseling. The study employed purposive and multi-stage random sampling techniques in the selection of 120 rural women who formed the sample size. Primary data used for the study were collected using questionnaire and interview schedule. These were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics. The result of data analysis showed that the rural women in the study area were knowledgeable on mode of transmission of HIV/AIDs such as: mother-child (94.17 percent), sexual-intercourse ( 93.33 percent), contaminated sharp (piercing ) instruments (91.67 percent) among others. The result of multiple regression analysis indicated a coefficient of multiple determination R2 of 68.5 percent. This means that about 68.5 percent of the level of awareness of HIV/AIDs in the area was influenced by the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents. Most of the explanatory variables were statistically significant and met a priori expectations. The null hypothesis tested at 5 percent level of significance was rejected. This shows that there is significant relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of the rural women and their level of knowledge of HIV/AIDs in the area, hence the need for counseling. Further analysis identified lack of adequate information (3.64), remoteness of the rural areas (3.10), cost of information access (3.12) among others as major obstacles which limited rural women knowledge of HIV/AIDs in the area. It was concluded that improving the knowledge of HIV/AIDs through constant guidance and counseling would minimize the spread of the scourge and as well improve the contribution of the women to agricultural development in the study area. Necessary recommendations such as improving the educational status of the women farmers among others were made.
Keywords: Awareness Guidance and Counseling, Ebonyi State, HIV/AIDS, Nigeria, Rural Women, Socio-Economic Factors