CHAPTER ONE

1.1      INTRODUCTION

AIDS is the acronym for Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome, which is a disorder cause by the Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV). It was discovered by a French Researcher; Professor Luc Montagnier in 1981. The first cases were reported in America in 1981 in five homosexuals who were undergoing treatment for a rare disease of the lungs called pneumocystic Carinii pneumonia. The modes of infection are through sexual intercourse (most common), transfusion of infected blood and blood products, use of infected unsterilised piercing objects and from infected mother to foetus. AIDS has aroused much interest probably because of its sexual connections and more so because of its association with homosexuals in America and Europe. Since its discovery it has become a global problem and the United Nations (UN) and the International Community is worried over it. Describing AIDS, Dr. Ward Cater of the United States (US) Centre for Disease Control (CDC) said that this disease has a potential “….. much worse than anything mankind has seen before”.1

Africa is widely considered the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic and the impact of the disease there has been devastating. More than 25 million people in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are infected with HIV out of the total 34.3 million people infected worldwide, giving SSA approximately three-quarters of the world’s HIV/AIDS case. The disease is literally reshaping the demographics of Africa. According to the UN, approximately 10% of children in SSA are parentless as a result of AIDS. The disease has claimed more human lives than plague or nuclear weapons took in their history.2 Since 1986 when the first case of HIV/AIDS was reported in Nigeria, this deadly scourge has spread rapidly to reach pandemic proportions. In Nigeria, the first official report of the HIV/AIDS, the prevalence of infection has shown a steady increase in all

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groups that have been monitored. Today, it is estimated that about 5 million Nigerians are infected with the virus.3 The disease has resulted in gradual reduction in life expectancy, decimation of skilled and productive work force and high medical bill. The new International labour Organization