Prevalence and Factors Associated with Acceptance of HIV Counseling and Testing among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic at SPHMMC Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2017 GC

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction: Mother- to-child transmission (MTCT) is by far the largest source of HIV infection in children below the age of 15 years .The virus may be transmitted during pregnancy child birth or breast feeding. For many years little was known about preventing transmission of HIV infection from mother to child. Recently however many intervention are available to reduce mother to child transmission, such as, antiretroviral drug and avoidance of breast feeding. For a women to take advantage of measures to reduce transmission, they need to know their HIV status, despite this fact many women are not willing to take HIV counseling and testing. Objective: To assess prevalence and factors associated with acceptance of HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) among pregnant women attending ANC at SPHMMC in Addis Ababa. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used. The study was conducted from May to June 2017 G.C. The data obtained from each study participant cleaned, edited and data was entered and analyzed using the EPI info version 6.0 and SPSS 20.0 computer software packages. Frequency distribution and cross tabulation were made for the variables, odds ratio and 95% confidence interval calculated. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis were done for variables whose P value ≤ 0.05 to determine factors associated with acceptance of HIV counseling and testing. Results: A total of 418 pregnant women attending antenatal clinics were included, with a response rate of 100%. Acceptance of HIV testing by pregnant women attending ANC at SPHMMC were 90.2%. The strongest association of acceptance of HIV counseling and testing were found with prior HIV testing, age and preferred method of testing. Women who are in the age group of 30-39 years were about 3 times more likely to be tested than the other age groups (95% CI=0.107, 77.679) and also those who preferred confidential linked testing were 1.4 times more likely to be tested (95% CI = 0.236, 8.915). Women who had prior HIV testing were about 8 times more likely to be tested than those who had no prior HIV testing. Conclusion: Prior HIV testing, age, preferred method of testing and educational status were important factors for acceptance of HIV counseling and testing. Key words: acceptance, HIV testing, pregnant women, antenatal care