Abstract
Despite the marked progress in coverage of prevention of mother to child HIV transmission (PMTCT) programs, mother to child HIV transmission (MTCT) rate is not well documented in Southwest Ethiopia. A retrospective follow up study was carried at Jimma University Specialized Hospital PMTCT clinic to quantify MTCT rate and its predictors among HIV-exposed infants. Data were extracted from medical records of HIV-infected women and exposed infants between September 2010 and December 2012. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were carried out to identify potential factors predicting MTCT. A total of 146 infants born to HIV-infected mothers were included in the analysis. Out of 146 infants, 25 (17%, 95% CI: 11%-23.2%) were HIV positive. In the adjusted multivariate logistic regression analysis, mothers being on late AIDS stage (AOR=5.8; 95% CI: 1.6-16.5), absence of maternal PMTCT interventions (AOR=4.9; 95% CI: 1.4-16.5), home delivery (AOR=8.1; 95% CI: 2.1-31.9) and mixed infant feeding (AOR=5.6; 95% CI: 1.4-41.2) were independently associated with MTCT. We documented a high rate of MTCT among exposed infants in Southwest Ethiopia. All pregnant HIV positive mothers should be enrolled in PMTCT programs at earlier stage and exclusive breast feeding should be encouraged so as to decrease MTCT.
Highlights
It has been estimated that globally 34 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2011
A total of 172 infants born from HIV infected mothers were enrolled in to the Jimma University Specialized Hospital prevention of mother to child HIV transmission (PMTCT) clinic between September 2010 and December 2012
The present study found HIV infection rate of 17% among HIVexposed infants on follow up at the PMTCT clinic
Summary
It has been estimated that globally 34 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2011. Among 2.5 million new HIV infected people, 330,000 were children less than 15 years [1]. Besides the dominant heterosexual transmission in adults, vertical HIV transmission from mother to child accounts for more than 90% of pediatric AIDS [1,3]. One-third of HIV positive infants are estimated to die before their first birthday and over one-half will die by their second birthday [4]. The most effective way to tackle pediatric HIV is to reduce MTCT through early identification of HIV positive pregnant women and putting them on care and treatment [9,10]. The scaling up of effective interventions have reduced MTCT of HIV to less than 2% in high income countries [13,14] but this rate remains high in resource poor countries ranging between 20% and 45% [2]
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