Abstract:
After 13 years of implementing prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) program in Tanzania, there are significant improvements especially in terms of service provision. Most of health facilities are providing PMTCT services and according to the MOHSW 2012 report, 4603 out of 4647 health facilities (99%) are providing PMTCT services. However there are some challenges that prevent maximum utilization of PMTCT services by HIV positive pregnant women and postnatal mothers.
The aim of this study was to determine factors that influence utilization of PMTCT services among HIV positive women at Tumbi Designated Regional Referral Hospital.
A cross sectional study was conducted between April and May 2014 among 126 HIV positive women who were attending antenatal clinic and postnatal clinic at Tumbi hospital. Participants were recruited to participate in the study after obtaining their consent. The data on which this thesis is based was generated from structured interviews. The interviews focused on socio-demographic characteristics, retention of PMTCT clients into care, level of PMTCT knowledge, social support HIV positive women receive from different groups of people and women‟s satisfaction with the services.
Most of the participants had high knowledge about PMTCT services. About 87.3% knew that HIV positive women can infect her baby during pregnancy, delivery or breastfeeding. Almost all all participants (99.2%) knew that exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is one of the ways to prevent their babies from being infected with HIV.
Many of the participants admitted to have received social support from health care workers (99.2%), husbands/partners (93.7%) and PLHIV within the health facility (67.5%). This motivated them to effectively utilize PMTCT services.
Women also reported that they were satisfied with the PMTCT services provided especially counseling on ARV use as well as counseling on disclosure of HIV status to the husbands/partners. Among 63 participants who were very satisfied with counseling on disclosure which was provided by health care workers, 63.2% had higher knowledge about PMTCT.
