Patient Preference and Adherence (Jan 2018)
Factors associated with acceptance of provider-initiated HIV testing and counseling among pregnant women in Ethiopia
Abstract
Ketema Bizuwork Gebremedhin,1 Bingjie Tian,2 Chulei Tang,3 Xiaoxia Zhang,3 Engida Yisma,1,4 Honghong Wang3 1Department of Nursing and Midwifery, School of Allied Health Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 2Department of General Surgery, Affiliated Huashan Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China; 3Department of Fundamental Nursing, Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University, Changsha, China; 4School of Medicine, Robinson Research Institute, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia Introduction: The global human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic disproportionately affects sub-Saharan African countries, including Ethiopia. Provider-initiated HIV testing and counseling (PITC) is a tool to identify HIV-positive pregnant women and an effective treatment and prevention strategy. However, its success depends upon the willingness of pregnant women to accept HIV testing.Objectives: To describe the level of acceptance of PITC and associated factors among pregnant women attending 8 antenatal care clinics in Adama, Ethiopia.Methods: Trained nursing students and employees from an HIV clinic conducted face-to-face structured interviews in private offices at the clinics from August to September, 2016.Results: Among the 441 respondents, 309 (70.1%) accepted PITC. Women with more antenatal care visits (odds ratio [OR] =2.59, 95% CI: 1.01–6.63), reported better quality of the PITC service (OR =1.91, 95% CI: 1.19–3.08), and higher level of knowledge on mother-to-child transmission (OR =1.82, 95% CI: 1.03–3.20), were more likely to accept PITC, while women who were older in age (OR =0.37, 95% CI: 0.19–0.74) and perceived negative attitudes from their partners toward HIV-positive results (OR =0.31, 95% CI: 0.10–0.94) were less likely to accept the PITC service.Conclusion: About one-third of pregnant women are not willing to accept PITC. When designing intervention program to improve the acceptance of PITC, we should take into consideration the personal factors, HIV-related knowledge, and attitude of women as well as institutional factors. Keywords: pregnant woman, HIV, provider initiated HIV testing and counseling (PITC), Ethiopia
