Socio-Economic Factors Associated with Structural Violence Behaviors against People Suspected of Living with HIV in Nigeria

Background: Structural violence is a trigger for behavioral violence. Addressing behavioral vulnerabilities such as social discrimination and unequal opportunities using specific survival strategies influences people’s susceptibility to structural violence and the likelihood of encountering health disparities or inequities. Existing studies have not examined socio-demographic factors in the context of structural violence behaviors against people suspected of living with HIV in Nigeria. This study examines the existing socio-contextual factors associated with structural violence behaviors against people suspected of living with HIV in Nigeria. Methods: This is a cross-sectional secondary data study based on the men’s dataset of the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (N = 13,311). Using the IBM statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS version 29), descriptive characteristics were summarized using frequencies and proportions. Three multivariate logistic regression models examined the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Results: The results indicate that 50.5% of the participants would not buy vegetables from a trader, 54% would be afraid of getting HIV from saliva, while 21.4% thought that HIV could be transmitted by sharing food with people living with HIV, respectively. The logistic regression results suggest that socio-demographic differentials such as region, residence, marital status, religion, age, employment, wealth status, and education are significantly associated with higher odds of one or more structural violence behaviors in men. Conclusion: Recognizing the impact of socio-economic factors on structural violence behaviors against suspected HIV-positive individuals in Nigeria, underscores the need for HIV prevention efforts to address behavioral vulnerabilities that undermine health equity in the general population.