HIV seroconversion and associated factors among booked seronegative pregnant women in Kobo town and Raya Kobo woreds, North wollo,Ethiopia: institution based cross- sectional study.
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Date
2020-12
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Background: Under the current practice, pregnant women who were Human Immunodeficiency
Virus (HIV) negative on the first test are considered to be HIV negative throughout. A repeat
HIV test three months later would identify HIV seroconversion and ensure early intervention to
prevent mother to child transmission of the virus. The objective of this study is therefore to
measure the magnitude of HIV seroconversion and to identify factors associated with HIV
seroconversion among booked first-time test seronegative pregnant women.
Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among HIV negative
pregnant women in Kobo Town and Raya Kobo Woreda, North Wollo, Ethiopia from June to
July 2020. Data were collected using a questionnaire through face-to-face interviews along with
a client card review. HIV re-testing was performed to know the current HIV status of pregnant
women. The collected data were entered into Epi data version 4.4.1 and were exported and
analyzed by SPSS version 25. A p-value < 0.25 in the bivariate analysis were entered in the
multivariable logistic regression analysis and a p-value of < 0.05 was taken as statistically
significant.
Result: From a total of 494 pregnant women who were screened and reported negative for HIV
at first ANC, six (1.2%) were HIV seropositive during retesting. Upon multivariable logistic
regression, pregnant women who have had a reported history of sexually transmitted infections
[AOR=7.98; 95% CI (1.206, 52.818)], participants’ partners reported travel history for work
frequently [AOR=6.00; 95% CI (1.093, 32.993)], and sexually abused pregnant women
[AOR=7.82; 95% CI (1.194, 51.243)] were significantly associated with HIV seroconversion.
Conclusion: The notable seroconversion rate found in this study implies that it is not enough to
test pregnant mothers once during the first antenatal care clinic. Rescreening of pregnant women
after the booking is a beneficial strategy to allow the timely provision of ART prophylaxis to
HIV seroconverting women and their exposed babies for the elimination of mother to child
transmission of HIV. Further expanded and large scale study should be conducted to understand
the magnitude and the factors of HIV seroconversion during pregnancy at various levels.
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Keywords
Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Pregnancy, Seroconversion, Booking, Kobo, Vertical transmission.