ILLITERACY AND VULNERABILITY TO HIV/AIDS: THE CASE OF IGUEBEN WOMEN IN NIGERIA

It is believe that Knowledge is power and if literacy has to do with knowledge, then to be illiterate means one lacks power. Since most women lack reading and writing skills in this area, they are powerless when it comes to accessing written information, and this could make them vulnerable to the spread of HIV/AIDS. In this study, the findings supported the literature that women's vulnerability is strongly influenced and tied to illiteracy. Women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS is real and needs to be addressed for there to be any positive progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS. If HIV vulnerability (illiteracy) is not acknowledged and fought, women will continue to succumb to the disease overwhelmingly and Igueben will eventually disintegrate as it will be full of sick people intensifying underdevelopment. This study sought to explore the relationship between illiteracy and the spread of HIV/AIDS infection among rural women. Fifteen (15) illiterate women were purposively selected from the area to participate in this explorative study. The research approach was qualitative. The research was undertaken within an interpretavist framework in the sense that it is a communal process, informed by participating illiterate women, and sensitive to the role of context (Alvermann, D.E., & Mallozzi, C.A. 2010). The design type used in this study is a case study. Data was collected by means of interviews. The interview schedule consists of 10 open-ended questions focusing on various aspects of their views on how illiteracy contributes to their vulnerability of HIV/AIDS. The interview was tape recorded and transcribed verbatim, and the analysis was done by means of constant comparative method (Merriam 1998).