Prevalence of HIV Sero-discordance among Couples in Sub Saharan Africa, 2019, Systematic Review and Meta Analysis

Abstract

Background: HIV/AIDS ranks among the world’s most devastating diseases because it spreads rapidly through sexual intercourse (90-95%) and mainly affects young people in their most productive years especially discordant couples are at continuous risk for acquiring the infection. But many individuals are unaware of their partner’s and their own Sero status. So this Meta-analysis aimed to assess the prevalence of HIV Sero discordance among adult discordant couples in Sub Saharan Africa, 2019. Methods: published and unpublished studies were searched systematically using electronic databases such as Google scholars, Medline, hennery, Scopes and Pub Med. All observational studies, which were assessing and reporting the prevalence of HIV sero discordance were identified and included in analysis. Investigators using a data extraction tool did data extraction. STATA statistical software version 14 was used for data analysis. The I2 test was used to evaluate study heterogeneity, the random effect model was used to estimate the pooled association, and the Egger test was used to check for publishing bias. Results: Ten studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the Meta - analysis. The findings of these 10 studies revealed that there was 23.77 (95 percent CI: 10.48, 37.09) pooled prevalence of sero discordance. The highest prevalence of HIV sero discordance was found in Uganda and SSA OR: 49.2 (95% CI = (47, 50.9) and OR: 43 (95% CI = (41, 45) respectively. Conclusion: In this Meta-analysis the pooled prevalence of HIV sero discordant was high in Africa.