Abstract

BackgroundSexually transmitted infections constitute a major public health problem worldwide. Syphilis and HIV infections cause various adverse pregnancy outcomes. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of HIV and syphilis infections among pregnant women at Gondar Family Guidance Association clinic, northwest Ethiopia.MethodsA retrospective study was conducted using sociodemographic and laboratory data obtained from registration books of Gondar Family Guidance Association clinic from January 2011 to April 2015. A binary logistic regression model was fit to identify factors associated with HIV and syphilis infections. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated to determine the strength of association between factors associated with HIV and syphilis infections. A p-value ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsA total of 3504 pregnant women were included in the study from January 2011 to April 2015. The seroprevalence of HIV, and syphilis were 145 (4.1%) and 66(1.9%), respectively. Twenty-three (0.66%) women were co-infected. Age group 20–29 years (AOR: 3.86; 95% CI: 1.36–10.89), age group ≥30 years (AOR: 6.08; 95% CI: 2.04–18.14) compared to age < 20 year, and HIV-infection (AOR: 14.6; 95% CI: 8.49–25.18) were significantly associated with syphilis infection. There was a decline in trend seroprevalence of HIV from 5.2% in 2011 to 2.1% in 2015; and decline in syphilis seroprevalence from 2.6% in 2011 to 1.6% in 2015 but not statistically significant.ConclusionThe data showed that syphilis and HIV infections are still critical public health concerns among pregnant women. Screening of all pregnant women for these infections is valuable. Further community-based studies to identify risk factors are necessary.

Highlights

  • Transmitted infections constitute a major public health problem worldwide

  • The prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and syphilis infections was determined among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic from January, 2011 to April, 2015

  • Implementing focused and targeted sexual transmitted diseases (STDs) prevention strategies is advisable to decrease the magnitude of HIV and syphilis in the community

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Summary

Introduction

Transmitted infections constitute a major public health problem worldwide. Syphilis and HIV infections cause various adverse pregnancy outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of HIV and syphilis infections among pregnant women at Gondar Family Guidance Association clinic, northwest Ethiopia. Transmitted infections (STIs) are amongst the world’s most widespread diseases in low income countries [1]. The infection can be classified as congenital or acquired, transmitted through unsafe sexual intercourse or blood transfusion, and it is a cause of adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as fetal loss, and premature delivery [2]. In 2012, it affected nearly one million pregnant women; 350,000 had adverse pregnancy outcome worldwide. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and syphilis are both STIs that remain the major public health problems. The two diseases share some similar risk factors and mode of transmissions such as unprotected sex, blood transfusion and sharing sharp materials [4]

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