Abstract:
ABSTRACT
Background
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The acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic is the greatest challenge to
human kind in the 21st century. In 2009, around 400,000 children under 15yrs became
infected with HIV. Almost all of these infections occured in Sub Saharan countries, and more
than 90% are a result of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) during pregnancy, labour and
delivery, or breastfeeding. Transmission during pregnancy is 5 – 10%, during labor and
delivery is 10 – 20% and during breastfeeding is 10 – 15%. Without interventions, there is a
20-45% chance that a baby born to an HIV infected mother will become infected.
However the risk of MTCT can be reduced up to 2% if comprehensive approach of PMTCT
will be put in place. MTCT of HIV has a dramatic deleterious impact on child survival and
therefore PMTCT is of crucial importance.
Objectives: To assess knowledge and attitude on PMTCT of HIV among pregnant women
attending Reproductive and Child Health clinic at Temeke District Hospital, Dar Es Salaam.
Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted from October 2010 to January 2011 at
Temeke District Hospital RCH Clinic in Dar-Es –Salaam. Structured questionnaires were
administered to all pregnant women at the clinic who have had the opportunity to be counseled
and tested for HIV in their antenatal clinics in different primary health centers in Temeke
District.
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The information was then summarized into SPSS version 17.0, for windows and analyzed.
Frequency distribution and two way tables were used to summarize the data.
Results: A total of 351 pregnant women fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included in the
study. Out of these, 237(67.5%) were HIV negative and 114 (32.5%) were HIV positive. The
mean age was 27.2 and SD 6.3. Married participants formed 68.9% and 86.9% had primary
education. Sixty nine respondents, 19.7% had good, 61.8% moderate and 18.5% had poor
basic HIV/AIDS knowledge. Only 15.7% had good, 49.9% had moderate and 34.5% had poor
knowledge on mother to child transmission of HIV and its prevention. The attitude towards the
PMTCT of HIV was generally positive which comprised 318 (90.6%) of the respondents.
Conclusion: Though the level of basic knowledge of HIV/AIDS was shown to be moderate to
good in pregnant women, almost half of pregnant women even after counseling attained only
moderate knowledge on PMTCT. Since there are still knowledge gaps on different but
important aspects of PMTCT, there is a need for adequate counseling including more sessions
during pregnancy, more public campaigns to encourage early ANC attendances.
