KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, PRACTICE AND DETERMINANTS OF FEEDING OF INFANT AMONG HIV POSITIVE MOTHERS VISITING ST PAUL'S HOSPITAL MILLENNIUM MEDICAL COLLEGE ART CLINIC

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Vertical transmission is the leading source of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in children under the age of 15 years. Infant and young child feeding in the context of HIV poses significant challenges due to the risk of transmission via breastfeeding. Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is an important intervention in the prevention and control of HIV and AIDS to reduce child mortality and increase the rate of child survival. Thus this study was aimed at contributing to fill the information gap and in the design of strategies to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV and to promote appropriate infant feeding practice. Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude, practice and determinants of feeding of Infants, of HIV positive mothers visited SPMMC ART clinic. Methods: Institution based cross sectional study was conducted in SPMMC from January to March 2017 on 104 mothers. Pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect data; it was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20 program. Simple and Multiple binary logistic regression analysis were employed to control the possible confounding effect and assess the separate effects of the variables. Result: 104 HIV positive mothers participated in the study. 66.3% and 4.8% of the mothers had sufficient knowledge and good attitude towards the feeding options recommended to HIV positive women respectively. Most of the mothers 63.5% practiced exclusive breastfeeding; 25% mixed feeding and 11.5% exclusive replacement feeding. Educational status ; and number of live birth and knowledge of prevention of mother to child transmission was found to be independently associated (p-value of < 0.05) with mother’s knowledge of recommended infant feeding options and infant feeding practice (exclusive breast feeding) respectively. Conclusion and recommendation: More than half of the mothers had sufficient knowledge about infant feeding options and only few mothers had favorable attitude towards infant feeding options recommended to HIV positive women and it was affected by the level of education of the mothers. Thus, efforts must be done to provide with adequate information and to empower mothers using education for interventions promoting appropriate or safe infant feeding practices and prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV Key words: Knowledge and Attitude, Infant feeding practice, HIV