Table 1.

Summary of HIV/AIDS-related stigma research studies in Nigeria: 1987–2008

S/N	Reference	GZ/ethnic tribe	Type of study	Study objectives	Stigma component/ measurement	Results
1	Fawole at al; 1999 Ref # ³⁸	South West/ Yoruba	AIDS-Education/intervention program for secondary school(with a stigma reduction intervention measurement)	Information and skill building: to improve the knowledge, attitudes and behavior of secondary school students through a school –based AIDS education program.	Willingness to touch/care for PLWHAs AIDS is a “white-man” disease Dislike having someone with AIDS sitting next to them.	Intervention students more likely to be tolerant of PLWHAs as compared to controls, e.g., for the question” would you be willing to touch and care for someone with AIDS?”, 79% of the intervention group said yes, whereas only 14% of the control responded positively(p<0.05)
2	Uwakwe, CB 2000 Ref # ³⁹	South West/Yoruba	AIDS-Education/intervention program for student nurses( with a stigma reduction intervention measurement)	Information and skill building: to improve knowledge, attitudes, beliefs regarding HIV/AIDS, PLWHAs and infection control behaviors.	Fear of treating PLWHAs Equal treatment for PLWHAs	Some improvements in intervention group compared to control regarding attitudes. Concern about treating AIDS patients decreased from 80% to 53%. Those who thought PLWHAs should be given ID cards decreased from 42% to 20%; no change in the control. Those who wanted the right to chose to treat PLWHAs decreased significantly from 80% to 24% in the intervention group, without any change in the control group.
3	Alubo, O et al, 2002 Ref # ⁴⁰	North-central( middle belt)/Tiv and Idoma tribes	Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA): semi-structured interviews, H-form and focus group discussions. The first two were employed in interactions with PLWHA and family members. H-form and focus group discussions were used in interactions with community members.	To investigate perceptions, knowledge and practices towards PLWHAs from their perspectives, their family members and the community in which they resides.	PLWHAs perception of acceptance by others scored on a scale of 1–10. Perception of acceptance by family members; scale 1–10 Community acceptance of PLWHAs; scale; 1–10.	The acceptance of PLWHAs was low. Stigmatization levels were also low, within family and community. The most obvious are separation and avoidance, and in extreme instances passers by spit. There is low acceptance and high level of rejection of PLWHAs by the community members.
4	Oyediran K et al,2005 Ref # ⁴¹	36 States of Nigeria(representative sample)	NARHS Data(FMoH & FHI)	To examine the factors associated with discriminatory attitudes towards PLWHA.	Unwillingness to make public knowledge a family member with HIV. HIV-positive colleague should or should not be allowed to continue working. Willingness to buy food or vegetables from an HIV-positive shopkeeper. Should not allow a child with HIV/AIDS to attend school.	More females would want it sero-status of the family member that became ill with HIV/AIDS remain secret (F=42.9% vs. M=39.0%).63% reported that an office colleague who became sick with HIV/AIDS should not be allowed to continue work, while 64% reported that a child with HIV/AIDS should not be allowed to school. Overall, the prevalence of stigma was higher among women than men.
5	Odimeg wu, CO, 2002 Ref # ⁴²	South West(Yoruba) and South East(Ibo)	Prevalence, patterns and predictors of HIV –related stigma and belief(outcome measure being utilization of VCT services)	To investigate the impact of stigma on AIDS prevention, care and treatment activities.	Negative feelings e.g. whether angry or disgusted, or afraid Coercive attitudes e.g. quarantine PLWHAs, mandatory HIV testing or public labeling Attribution blame e.g., gotten what they deserve, sexually loose people, or responsible for their illness. Avoidant behaviors e.g. infected relative, infected shopkeeper, infected workmate avoid school of infected child. Symbolic contact and interaction e.g. comfortable with PLWHA in using the same plate, coworker, hugging, kissing and sharing toilet. With infected partner e.g. caring for him, eat with him, sleep together, sit and chat together, or move together.	There is a strong ethnic differential in stigma attitudes. The Igbo were more likely to show stigma attitudes and behaviors than the Yoruba. Gender differences are evident nut not significant. Markers of stigma and overall stigma index arte significant predictors of intention to utilize VCT. This study calls for the inclusion of De-stigmatization program as a major component of prevention activities. Well designed information, Education and communication programs are needed to aid stigma reduction programs.
6	Ezedinachi EN et al, 2002 Ref # ⁴³	South-South (Health workers)	HIV/AIDS education intervention study.	To change health workers attitudes to PLWHAs as well as knowledge about the disease to enhance this change, thus reducing stigma and discrimination.	Willingness to treat HIV patients e.g., fear and avoidance by clinicians	Intervention group, as compared with the control group, had increased willingness to treat and teach their colleagues about PLWHAs clinicians fear and discrimination were significantly reduced, and the fear associated with HIV was replaced with a professional concern
7	Oyelese, AO, 2004 Ref # ⁴⁴	South West/Yoruba	HIV/AIDS Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice study, with stigma measurement index.	To investigate peoples/community acceptance of HIV infection and AIDS through an open-ended questionnaire administered non-randomly	Willingness to live or associate with PLWHAs Willingness to care for an AIDS patient	There was a negative response with a median of 42.2% to questions of acceptance and continued association with PLWHAs, which is a strong stigma and discrimination index.
8	Babalola, S, 2007 Ref # ⁴⁵	North East/Hausa and Fulani tribes predominantly	HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitude study with stigma measurement index	Examines the psychosocial, household and community factor associated with readiness for HIV testing among young people in Northern Nigeria with a particular focus on stigma.	The three dimensions of stigma measurement used were: Status disclosure dimension :, i.e. views about a community member or sero-positive family member with HIV should reveal their status Symbolic interaction dimension, i.e. hypothetical level of comfort interacting with an HIV positive colleague or a store attendant. Labeling/blame attribution dimension i.e. PLWHAs should be legally separated from the public, or PLWHAs got what they deserve or students with HIV should not be allowed to attend school.	Perceived/public stigma at the individual level was a significant predictor for readiness for HIV testing for both men and women. At the community level (social norm), it is more strongly and directly associated with readiness among men than women.

GZ = Geographical Zone, PLWHAs = People Living With HIV-AIDS, NARHS = National HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health Survey, FMoH = Federal Ministry of Health, FHI = Family Health International, VCT=Voluntary Counseling and Testing.