Paper Title
ASSESSMENT OF THE CHALLENGES OF HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS AND ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME (HIV/AIDS) INFECTED OWNERS OF SMALL-SCALE BUSINESSES IN THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY (FCT) ABUJA NIGERIA

Abstract
As a result of the chronic health condition that HIV/AIDS is associated with, people living with the disease need to manage themselves all through their lives with medications, balanced nutrition and other forms of care and support. This level of expenses most at times impact negatively on the small-scale businesses being managed by them. Thus, this study 'Assessment of the Challenges of HIV/AIDS Infected Owners of Small-scale Businesses in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja Nigeria ' examined some of the key HIV/AIDS related challenges encountered by people living with the disease with a view to establishing relationships between these challenges and the businesses carried out by them in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja. The objectives of the study were to assess the effect of stigma and discrimination on their sales, to examine the effect of HIV/AIDS related sicknesses on their productivity and to identify the impact of HIV/AIDS related mortality on the continuity of small-scale businesses in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja. In order to achieve these, Causal research design was adopted and simple regression Analysis was used to determine the cause-effect relationship between HIV/AIDS related issues and the growth of small-scale businesses in terms of sales, productivity and business survival in the FCT. The findings of the study showed that stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS lead to poor patronage in their businesses, loss of customers and decrease in value and volume of sales. Their HIV/AIDS related illnesses lead to frequent absenteeism from the businesses, less attention to the businesses and eventually decreased productivity. The high rate of mortality among them leads to loss of human asset and eventually low rate of business survival. The study therefore recommended that government and other relevant agencies should implement the Nigerian anti-discrimination law of 2014 and bring offenders to book, that people living with HIV/AIDS should avoid self-stigma to bring down the level of depression and sicknesses for improved productivity and finally that they should take their Anti- retro-viral therapy more seriously to maintain a healthier and longer life for sustainability and continuity of their businesses. Keywords - Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Small-scale Business, Stigma, Discrimination, Productivity, Mortality and Business Survival