High acceptance of HIV testing and HIV awareness among pregnant women in Buea

Abstract

Master Thesis, Programme in Medicine. TITLE: High acceptance of HIV testing and HIV awareness among pregnant women in Buea,Cameroon. AUTHOR:Amanda Sturm, 2013, Institute of Biomedicine, Gothenburg, Sweden Background: One of the key actions in eliminating new HIV infections among children, is to provide HIV testing and antiretroviral medicines to pregnant women living with HIV. Without treatment, one third of children born to women living with HIV will become infected in the womb, at birth or through breastfeeding. Aims: The primary aims were to investigate acceptance of HIV-testing and attitudes towards antiretroviral prophylaxis before and during pregnancy among pregnant women. A secondary aim was to investigate general knowledge, attitudes and risk behaviour towards HIV/AIDS. Methods: Data was collected at two different health centers; Buea Road Health Center (BRIHC) and Muea Hospital between September 23rd and November 11th, 2013. A questionnaire was used as a platform for semi-structured interviewing. Results: Of 120 interviews included, 99 % had been (or were about to be) tested for HIV. Ten women tested positive for HIV, all of them accepted antiretroviral prophylaxis during pregnancy. General knowledge about HIV/AIDS was high, everyone had heard about the disease and 97 % knew ways of protection. Misconceptions regarding routes of transmission were frequent among the low educated women. Most useful sources of information was the hospital and school. Conclusions: The most important step is to attend health care/ANC. If attending, acceptance of HIV testing and antiretroviral prophylaxis among the pregnant women in Buea was high and generel level of knowledge was good. Still, information given by the health staff can be improved, especially regarding specific routes of transmissions.