Abstract
Purpose: Media reports after signing of the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act 2013 in Nigeria portray widespread societal intolerance towards the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual population. This study was conducted to assess the attitudes of university undergraduates in Lagos state, Nigeria towards provision of healthcare services for Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) because the 2014 same-sex prohibition law stipulates a jail sentence for organizations providing services to MSM.
Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted using self-administered questionnaires to collect information including homophobic attitudes and views on access to healthcare from 4000 undergraduates in ten randomly selected faculties in two universities. During analysis inter-university and inter-faculty comparison was carried out between medical and non-medical students.
Results: Outright denial of healthcare services to MSM was supported by 37.6% of the 3537 undergraduates who responded while denial of HIV prevention services was supported by 32.5%. However, compared to 38.7% and 34.1% of undergraduates from other faculties, 23.7% and 18.2% of medical students agreed that healthcare providers should not provide services to MSM and that MSM should not have access to HIV prevention services respectively (p=0.000). Although a significant proportion of the medical students supported the statement that doctors and other healthcare workers should be compelled to give priority to other groups before MSM (29.4% of medical vs 47.2% of students from other faculties), a statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups of students. The homophobic statement with the highest support was that doctors and healthcare workers should be compelled to report MSM who come to access treatment (48.1% of medical vs 57.4% of students from other faculties).
Conclusion: A very high proportion of the undergraduate students had a negative attitude towards provision of healthcare services to MSM in Nigeria; the medical students were, however, less homophobic than their non-medical counterparts. If attitudes translate to lack of healthcare service provision to MSM, with the high burden of HIV among MSM in Nigeria, it is unlikely that the country will achieve the UNAIDS 90-90-90 target of 90% of the population knowing their HIV status, 90% of people living with HIV receiving sustained antiretroviral medication, and 90% of those receiving antiretroviral medication having viral suppression by 2020.
Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted using self-administered questionnaires to collect information including homophobic attitudes and views on access to healthcare from 4000 undergraduates in ten randomly selected faculties in two universities. During analysis inter-university and inter-faculty comparison was carried out between medical and non-medical students.
Results: Outright denial of healthcare services to MSM was supported by 37.6% of the 3537 undergraduates who responded while denial of HIV prevention services was supported by 32.5%. However, compared to 38.7% and 34.1% of undergraduates from other faculties, 23.7% and 18.2% of medical students agreed that healthcare providers should not provide services to MSM and that MSM should not have access to HIV prevention services respectively (p=0.000). Although a significant proportion of the medical students supported the statement that doctors and other healthcare workers should be compelled to give priority to other groups before MSM (29.4% of medical vs 47.2% of students from other faculties), a statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups of students. The homophobic statement with the highest support was that doctors and healthcare workers should be compelled to report MSM who come to access treatment (48.1% of medical vs 57.4% of students from other faculties).
Conclusion: A very high proportion of the undergraduate students had a negative attitude towards provision of healthcare services to MSM in Nigeria; the medical students were, however, less homophobic than their non-medical counterparts. If attitudes translate to lack of healthcare service provision to MSM, with the high burden of HIV among MSM in Nigeria, it is unlikely that the country will achieve the UNAIDS 90-90-90 target of 90% of the population knowing their HIV status, 90% of people living with HIV receiving sustained antiretroviral medication, and 90% of those receiving antiretroviral medication having viral suppression by 2020.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | LGBT Health |
| Early online date | 19 Apr 2016 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 19 Apr 2016 |
Keywords
- MSM
- Attitudes
- Healthcare
- Undergraduates
