Abstract
IntroductionNinety-one percent of global Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection in children occurs in sub-Saharan Africa. Provider Initiated Testing and Counselling (PITC) Strategy is a means of reducing missed opportunities for HIV exposed or infected children. The present study determined the prevalence of HIV infection using PITC Strategy among children seen at the Paediatric Emergency Unit of Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Ido-Ekiti, and the possible route of transmission.MethodsCross-sectional study on prevalence of HIV infection using PITC model. 530 new patients whose HIV serostatus were unknown and aged 15 years or below were recruited consecutively and offered HIV testing. Serial algorithm testing for HIV infection using Determine HIV-1/2 and Uni-Gold rapid test kits was adopted. Seropositive patients younger than eighteen months had HIV Deoxyribonucleic Acid Polymerase Chain Reaction (HIV DNA PCR) test for confirmation.ResultsTwenty-four (4.5%) of the 530 patients were confirmed to have HIV infection; of whom 19 (79.2%) were less than 18 months of old; with age range of 5 to 156 months. Fifteen (62.5%) of the infected children were females; likewise, the gender specific infection rate was higher (%) among the females compared with (%) among the males. Two of the HIV infected children’s mothers were late, while the remaining 22 mothers (%) were HIV seropositive. Mother-to-child-transmission was the most likely route of transmission in the children.ConclusionPITC strategy is vital to the early diagnosis and effective control of HIV infection in children. However, this cannot be totally effective if PMTCT is not optimized.
Highlights
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) counselling and testing (HCT) is a key intervention for HIV prevention and a critical entry point into life-sustaining treatment and care programme for those infected with the virus [1]
All the 24 patients with HIV infection had had contact with healthcare workers at the immunization clinics and 10 (41.7%) of them had completed their immunization according to National Programme of Immunization prior to the illness that brought them to the hospital
All the patients with HIV infection in the present study had had at least an earlier contact with a healthcare worker at the immunization clinic; while about 40% of them had completed their immunization according to National Programme of Immunization prior to the discovery of their HIV infection status in the present study
Summary
HIV counselling and testing (HCT) is a key intervention for HIV prevention and a critical entry point into life-sustaining treatment and care programme for those infected with the virus [1]. Health facilities represent a key point of contact with people infected with HIV Evidence from both industrialized and resource-constrained settings suggests that many opportunities to diagnose and counsel individuals at health facilities exist [3,4]. The present study set out to use the PITC strategy to determine the prevalence of undiagnosed HIV infection among children seen at Paediatric Emergency Unit (PEU) of Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Ido-Ekiti, and the possible route of transmission
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
