Male Partners' Involvement in the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV and Associated Factors in Arba Minch Town and Arba Minch Zuria Woreda, Southern Ethiopia.

Marelign Tilahun,Shikur Mohamed

doi:10.1155/2015/763876

Marelign Tilahun, Shikur Mohamed

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/763876

Copy DOI

Abstract

Background. Male involvement is an important determinant of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. However, male involvement in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Ethiopia is not well known. Objectives. To assess male partners involvement in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and associated factors in Arba Minch town and Arba Minch Zuria woreda. Methods. Community based study was conducted in Arba Minch town and Arba Minch Zuria district. Multistage sampling technique was used and data were collected using interviewer administered standard questionnaire. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to determine the presence of statistically significant associations between the outcome variable and the independent variables. Results. The level of male involvement in PMTCT program in Arba Minch town and Zuria district was 53%. Several factors appear to contribute to male involvement in the PMTCT program including age, residence, education level, knowledge on HIV, knowledge on PMTCT, accessibility of health facility, having weak perception for male involvement in PMTCT, having perception of ANC attendance being females' responsibility, ever use of khat, and ever use of cigarette. Conclusion. Geographical accessibility of health facility and male's knowledge on PMTCT should be improved to increase their involvement in PMTCT.

Highlights

Mother-to-child HIV transmission of HIV remains a significant problem in the developing world despite the development and growing availability of effective prevention methods appropriate for resource-limited settings [1, 2]
Male partners play a role in women’s risk of acquiring HIV and in terms of her utilization of the PMTCT program: for the mother to test for HIV, for the mother to return for the result, for the couple to use condoms, for the mother to receive medication, and for her to follow the infant feeding advice given [1, 3,4,5,6]
The study was conducted in Arba Minch town and Arba Minch Zuria district which is located about 505 km south of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia

Summary

Introduction

Mother-to-child HIV transmission of HIV remains a significant problem in the developing world despite the development and growing availability of effective prevention methods appropriate for resource-limited settings [1, 2]. It is observed that the involvement of male partners in antenatal VCT was associated with increased uptake of interventions to prevent vertical and sexual HIV transmission [4]. Women who received couple counseling did not report an increased risk of adverse social events compared to individually counseled women [8,9,10] Dropout among those who have discussed HIV testing with their partners was found to be low in Burkina Faso [11]. Male involvement is an important determinant of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Male involvement in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Ethiopia is not well known. To assess male partners involvement in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and associated factors in Arba Minch town and Arba Minch Zuria woreda. Geographical accessibility of health facility and male’s knowledge on PMTCT should be improved to increase their involvement in PMTCT

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion