Factors Affecting Acceptance of Voluntary HIV Counseling and Testing among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care in Mekelle Public Health Facilities, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
| dc.contributor.advisor | Solomon Shiferaw | |
| dc.contributor.author | Atsbha Gebrekidan | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2018-07-04T07:42:32Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-11-05T14:49:15Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2018-07-04T07:42:32Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-11-05T14:49:15Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2009-06 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Back ground: Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) is by far the largest source of HIVinfection children below the age of 15 years. Globally there were an estimated 33 million peopleliving with HIV in 2007. An estimated 370, 000 children under age 15 became infected with HIVin 2007 globally. Almost 90% live in sub-Saharan Africa. Around 90% of all children living withHIV acquired the infection from their mothers during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding. Forwomen to take advantage of measures to reduce transmission, they need to know their HIVstatus. Despite this fact many women are not willing to take voluntary HIV counseling andtesting. Objective: To assess factors that contribute to the low uptake of HCT acceptance amongpregnant women attending antenatal care services in public facilities in Mekelle Town Methodology: - A health facility based cross sectional survey was conducted using structuredquestionnaire among 384 pregnant women following antenatal care (ANC) at selected healthfacilities of Tigray region, Mekelle town from February 2009-March 2009. Results: A total of 384 pregnant women fulfilling the inclusion criteria were enrolled in thestudy with 100% of response rate. 353 (91.9%) knew that a mother with HIV can pass the virusto her child. 309 (80.5%) of the pregnant women had heard the existence of PMTCT in thehealth facilities and 75 (19.5%) didn't know the existence of the program. 252 (65.6%) believedthey were at risk for getting HIV. 330(85.9%) discus freely about HIV testing with theirhusbands which had a significant association with accepting of HIV testing[(AOR (95%CI) = 7.1(2.78-18.09)]. And of those participants who had been tested 253 (74.6%) were during thecurrent pregnancy. 335(87.2%) of those who were tested received their test result. Both thebivariate and the multivariate have shown that as the number of ANC visits increase thelikelihood of accepting HCT among the pregnant women increases [(AOR (95%C.I =0.14(0.24-0.79)]. Getting pre-test counseling had a significant association with acceptance ofHIV testing among the pregnant mothers [(AOR (95%C.I) = 7.01 (2.77- 17.71)]. Conclusions: Increasing frequency of antenatal care visits had a major role in spreadinginformation on HIV/AIDS, MTCT and appears to be a significant factor to increase of HCTacceptance. Discussing freely about HIV sero status with partner is crucial for the acceptance ofHCT and successful management of the present and future pregnancies. Despite higher knowledge of HIV prevention still there are misconceptions influencing HCT/PMTCT uptakelike as trust on God, self confidence, husbands faithfulness, fear of stigma and discrimination,they do not want to know their status , could not tolerate the positive result and because ofuncertainty about the partners response on HIV testing result. Such factors affected acceptanceof HCT among pregnant mothers. Recommendations: The health facilities should strengthen ANC services utilization anddecrease missed opportunities for counseling and testing. To increase acceptance rate of HCT thegovernment, Regional health bureau, zonal health office and the facilities should prepare moresources of information to be accessed by all the families and community members to educate onHIV/ AIDS, MTCT and PMTCT issues. Religious leaders, community leaders and other memberof the society should play their role through awareness creation and sensitization activities toreduce the misconceptions of HIV infection among pregnant mothers. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/6220 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Addis Abeba Universty | en_US |
| dc.subject | Voluntary HIV Counseling | en_US |
| dc.title | Factors Affecting Acceptance of Voluntary HIV Counseling and Testing among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care in Mekelle Public Health Facilities, Mekelle, Ethiopia. | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |