Abstract
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.
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.