Abstract

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Prevention of transmission of HIV from mother to child is a serious public health issues globally.There are approximately 1.4 million HIV positive women who become pregnant and contribute to more than 300,000 neonatal and foetal deaths each year. HIV in pregnancy is of concern because women with HIV/AIDS may transmit the infection to their child during pregnancy, delivery and while breastfeeding. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of HIV infection in pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Kashere General Hospital from 2015 to 2019. A total of 3,144 pregnant women were enrolled and screened for HIV infection during the antenatal visit, after collecting their socio demographic, gynecological and obstetric details. A one-step HIV-DETERMINE test kit was used to screen the blood samples collected by needle-prick on fingertip. The results revealed that out of the 3,144 pregnant women screened, only 41(1.30%) were found positive and 39 of the positive cases fall within 21 to 30 years age group. Highest rate (4.3%) was found in the year 2017, followed by 1.75% in 2015, with 0.60% in 2019 as the least. This study, therefore advocate advocated early antenatal visit, voluntary testing in pregnancy and improved girl-child education/awareness as an essential step in PMTCT programmes.

Keywords: Pregnant women, Kashere, HIV, Trimester, Antenatal, Mother-to-child, Girl-child