Abstract
HIV/AIDS is one of the major barriers to community development. It is a global pandemic with high prevalence rates worldwide. This research was carried out to determine the prevalence of HIV among pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic at the University College Hospital, Ibadan using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) Gen Screen TM ULTRA HIV Ag-Ab Kit. HIV prevalence was found to be 26.4%. A total of 91 samples were tested, 24 (26.4%) were found to be positive and 67 (73.6%) negative. Women between the ages 25 – 31 had the highest prevalence rate of 16.5% while those between the ages of 39 – 45 years had the least prevalence rate of 1.1%. The results revealed a relatively high prevalence rate for HIV among pregnant women which suggests the need for active surveillance and implementation of preventive measures to avoid further spread of the virus. Pregnant women need to be continually tested for HIV and those infected monitored closely to prevent mother to child transmission.
Highlights
HIV is a slow replicating virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), a condition leading to gradual collapse of the human immune system allowing invasion by lethal opportunistic pathogens and cancers [1]
With increasing access to antiretroviral therapy (ART), there has been a gradual decline in the occurrence of HIV/AIDS – related deaths even though the number of new infections amongst the poorly educated and low income group continues to rise in certain countries and has plateaued in others
This current study reported a significant statistical relationship between maternal age and HIV positivity within the antenatal clinic which stands at variance with the conclusions of certain studies that reported the absence of any significant link between HIV- 1/2 seropositivity and age [25, 26]
Summary
HIV is a slow replicating virus (lentivirus) that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), a condition leading to gradual collapse of the human immune system allowing invasion by lethal opportunistic pathogens and cancers [1]. With increasing access to antiretroviral therapy (ART), there has been a gradual decline in the occurrence of HIV/AIDS – related deaths even though the number of new infections amongst the poorly educated and low income group continues to rise in certain countries and has plateaued in others. The prevalence of fresh HIV infection is persistently high in several countries across the sub-Sahara with South Africa (23%), Nigeria (15%), Uganda (10%), Mozambique (8%) and Kenya (7%) ranked top [6, 9, 10]. Prevalence studies are fundamental to combatting the HIV/AIDS pandemic and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the sub-Saharan region. Antenatal clinics have served as the prime source of data for determining both regional and national incidence and prevalence of HIV especially in countries with widespread HIV epidemics such as found in the sub-Sahara. The objectives were to determine age-specific trends in prevalence among the participants and to ascertain prevalence statistics within age groups
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