Experience of HIV voluntary counseling and testing in antenatal women at a tertiary health centre of North India

Abstract

Background: Integrating routine HIV counseling and testing as a mandatory part of antenatal care in India has led all pregnant women enter into the prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV program. Despite such strategies, the effective execution and uptake of these programs remains a major obstacle. It is thus, important to understand the experiences of pregnant women undergoing HIV testing to detect the flaws on the part of the provider and the benefiter and eliminate them to strengthen the PMTCT services. Aim: We studied the acceptability of HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) in antenatal women attending a tertiary health center of the North India. The impact of the sociodemographic factors on HIV prevalence and uptake of PMTCT was also studied, and the possible reasons for dropouts were determined. Methods: Pretest counseling was performed, and sociodemographic data and blood samples were collected from the consenting antenatal pregnant women. Samples were tested for HIV antibodies as per the World Health Organization guidelines. Data were analyzed and presented as mean, percentages, and tables. Results: Of 30,150 pregnant women counseled, 23,464 (77.82%) underwent testing. 136/23,464 women tested seropositive. The prevalence of HIV in antenatal women was found to be 0.58%. The majority of these women were young and belonged to the age group 20–24 years (0.23%). 22% refused testing, the reasons for which were sought. Strong associations were found between the HIV seroreactive status and marital status, low education status, low social class, high parity, and unemployment. Conclusion: To eliminate pediatric transmission of HIV and to create more awareness regarding HIV infection and MTCT, there is a need to make VCT and PMTCT programs more acceptable to the population. The observations found in the study were consistent with the national projections.