Withdrawn: Magnitude of Adherence to Option B plus program and associated factors among women in Eastern African Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract

Abstract Background Despite coverage and benefits associated with prevention of mothers to child transmission (PMTCT) services, mothers’ adherence to option B plus is still a challenge. Though few primary studies are available on magnitude of adherence to option B plus and factors associated in Eastern African countries, they do not provide strong evidence in helping policy makers to address suboptimal adherence to option B plus. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis was intended to estimate the pooled magnitude of adherence to option B plus program and associated factors among women in Eastern African countries. Methods Pub Med, Medline, HINARI, Cochrane library, the Web of Science and Google scholar were searched for studies reported on magnitude of adherence to option B plus among women in in Eastern African countries. Search terms used were “option B plus”, “magnitude”, “prevalence”, “PMTCT”, “ART adherence” and “associated factors” and all lists of East African countries“ by using Boolean operators. The effect sizes of the meta-analysis were the magnitude of adherence to option B plus and odds ratio of the associated factors. STATA/SE V14 was used for statistical analysis, and publication bias was assessed using funnel plots and Egger’s test Results Twelve studies having total participants of 4321 were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis. Using the random effect model, the pooled prevalence of adherence to option B plus was 71.60% (95% CI; 55.92, 87.29). The factors associated with good adherence to option B plus PMTCT program were partner support (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 4.13; 95% CI: 2.78- 6.15), received counseling services (AOR= 4.12, 95% CI: 2.81-6.02), disclosure of HIV status to partner (AOR= 4.38; 95% CI: 1.79-10.70), and clinical stage of HIV/AIDS (AOR= 2.62; 95% CI: 1.53-4.46) Conclusion The level of adherence to option B plus program in East African countries was generally sub-optimal. Thus, coordinated effort is needed to raise number of mothers to be tested, and starting treatment early before the disease advances and continuous provision of counseling services for couples on early treatment initiation and adherence to medications must be given due attention.