CHAPTER ONE

1.1 Introduction/Background to the Study

AIDS is an acronym for Acquired Immuno Deficiency syndrome a killer disease that progressively destroys organs of the body including the immune systems and the central nervous system. The disease is caused by a virus, the human immuno deficiency  virus type I (HIV) according to World Health Organisation, (WHO, 1980).

The initial symptoms of HIV – I infection often resemble influenza or nomonucleosis and appear within a few days or weeks after exposure. These symptoms often disappear after several weeks. Prolonged disease period may last for ten years or more after initial infection, more commonly eight to ten years elapse before the onset of serious disease symptoms. During this later phase, the HIV-infected or (HIV positive) patient is said to have AIDS.

According to Aiken (1991) AIDS was first reported in 1981 by investigators in New York and California. Initially, most of the cases of AIDS in the United States were diagnosed in homo-sexuals who contacted the virus primarily through sexual relationships and intravenous drug use or by sharing contaminated hypodermic needles.

HIV/AIDS spread to endemic proportion in the 1980’s particularly in Africa where the disease might have originated from. The spread was likely facilitated by several factors which include increasing urbanization and long distance travel in Africa i.e. international travellers, changing sexual partners and intravenous drug users.

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