Factors Influencing HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing (Vct) Among Pregnant Women in Kassala, Eastern Sudan

Abdel Aziem Abd Allah Ali

doi:10.4172/2167-0420.1000198

Abstract

Aiming to investigate the quantitative acceptance rate and factors affecting HIV_ Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) all pregnant women attended for antenatal care in Kassala hospital, eastern Sudan, during 1st March 2014 – 31st May 2014 were interviewed. Although 962 of 1017 interviewed women agreed to do the test initially only 400 (39.3%) women had done the test. The total women who were not tested (617) reported that ignorance of the effect and knowledge of HIV, stigmatization and inadequate motivation are the main factors lying behind their nonacceptance for HIV testing. There were significant association between rural residence (CI= 0.4 – 0.7, OR= 0.5, P= 0.000), women’s education (CI= 1.0 – 1.4, OR= 1.2, P= 0.006), husband’s education (CI= 0.2 – 0.5, OR= 0.3, P= 0.000) and the acceptance of the test. Thus our findings call for urgent effort from stakeholders to collaborate in order to remove obstacles in the acceptance of HIV_VCT. This can be done through awareness and motivation especially in the rural areas. There is also strong need to expand HIV_VCT services in rural areas and urgent consideration of the educational status among the community.

Highlights

Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV) infectionis a major public health problem and it represents a threat for the people
The total women who were not tested (617) reported that ignorance of the effect and knowledge of HIV, stigmatization and inadequate motivation are the main factors lying behind their non-acceptance for HIV testing, Table 1
The results of the current study indicated that ignorance of the effect and knowledge of HIV, stigmatization and inadequate motivation represented the main factors influencing the acceptance of VCT_HIV

Summary

Introduction

Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV) infectionis a major public health problem and it represents a threat for the people. The Sudanese Government estimates that HIV prevalence in Sudan is 0.53%, which implies that approximately 99000 people are living with HIV in Sudan [2]. A survey carried out in 2007 in 9164 pregnant women attending antenatal care services in all Sudanese states found an HIV prevalence of 0.2% [3]. It is well recognized that peoples living with HIV who are aware of their infection are less likely to transmit HIV to others [4]. Several authors [5,6] have noted that VCT is a key element to identifying HIV infected persons who could benefit from therapeutic interventions. To our knowledge no available data on factors influencing HIV_VCT in eastern Sudan, the current study designed and directed to investigate the socio-demographic factors affecting HIV_VCT among pregnant women in Eastern Sudan aiming to provide the policy makers with fundamental data to increase the acceptance rate of the HIV_VCT

Methods

Results

Conclusion