Dr.Techbele, Erdaw(PhD)Adimasu, Mekonnen (MSc)Tadewos, Kidist2020-12-132023-11-062020-12-132023-11-062020-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/23993Background: HIV/AIDS can affect all age groups, but is the leading infectious cause of pediatrics morbidity and mortality in the world. A vast majority of HIV infections in children under the age of 15 were through mother to child transmission. In Ethiopia, MTCT accounts for 95 percent of childhood HIV infections but risk of transmission increases significantly if the mother is untreated Objective: To assess rate of Mother- to - Child Transmission of HIV and associated factors among exposed infants on follow-up in Jinka town health facilities, South omo zone, South Ethiopia, 2020. Methodology: A retrospective cohort study was employed among 230 exposed infants in Jinka general hospital and millennium health center at Jinka. Medical records of HIV- exposed infant and their mothers enrolled at PMTCT clinics in the study institution and registered from September/2014 to August /2018 were extracted using data extraction sheet after getting ethical clearance from the Institutional review board of Addis Ababa University. The data was entered in Epi Data 4.2 version and exported to SPSS version 25 for final analysis. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression were used to identify predictors of HIV vertical transmission. Significance was considered at P-value < 0.05 in the multivariable analysis. Results: A total of 228 infant-mother records were included in analysis. 5.3% of HEIs got HIV infected vertically in the study area. Not receiving ARV prophylaxis at birth (AOR=5.8, 95% CI: 1.02-33.53, p=0.047), absence of maternal ARV prior to current pregnancy (AOR=5.6,95% CI: 1.14-28.1, P=0.034), mother’s advanced WHO clinical stage of HIV at enrollment to PMTCT (AOR: 10.5; 95% CI: 1.4,81, p=0.022) were significantly associated with mother to child transmission of HIV in this study. Conclusion Infant did not received nevirapine prophylaxis at birth, mothers who were at advanced WHO clinical stage of AIDS, and mothers who did not received ARV prior to pregnancy were at higher risk of mother to child transmission of HIV infection.en-USHIV, infantsThesis