Prevalence of maternal HIV infection and knowledge on mother-to-child transmission of HIV and its prevention among antenatal care attendees in a rural area in northwest Cameroon

In 2010, an estimated 141 new HIV infections occurred per day in Cameroon and reports suggest an upsurge of these rates by 2020 if current trends continue. Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV is a major public health challenge, and maternal knowledge on HIV transmission during pregnancy and i...

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Published in:	PloS one Vol. 12; no. 2; p. e0172102
Main Authors:	Sama, Carlson-Babila, Feteh, Vitalis F, Tindong, Maxime, Tanyi, John T, Bihle, Nestor Mbinkar, Angwafo, 3rd, Fru F
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 15-02-2017 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Acquired immune deficiency syndrome Adolescent Adult AIDS Antiretroviral drugs Biology and Life Sciences Breast Feeding Cameroon - epidemiology Condoms Demography Disease transmission Female Health aspects Health care facilities Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice Health risk assessment HIV HIV infections HIV Infections - epidemiology HIV Infections - transmission Human immunodeficiency virus Humans Infections Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical - prevention & control Medicine and Health Sciences Patient Education as Topic Pediatrics People and Places Pregnancy Pregnant women Pregnant Women - psychology Prenatal Care Prevalence Prevention Public health Retrospective Studies Risk factors Rural areas Rural Population Scaling Womens health Young Adult Cameroon Uganda Ethiopia
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Summary:	In 2010, an estimated 141 new HIV infections occurred per day in Cameroon and reports suggest an upsurge of these rates by 2020 if current trends continue. Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV is a major public health challenge, and maternal knowledge on HIV transmission during pregnancy and its prevention is important in curtailing paediatric HIV acquisition. We aimed at establishing the prevalence of maternal HIV infection as well as assessing knowledge on HIV, MTCT and prevention of MTCT (PMTCT) of HIV among pregnant women in a rural area of Cameroon. This study was conducted in two phases: a 29 month retrospective analysis of 1866 deliveries within three rural health facilities in the Babessi sub-division, Northwest Cameroon and a 1 month prospective phase wherein 150 consenting pregnant women attending antenatal care (ANC) at the study centres were consecutively recruited. Overall, the prevalence of maternal HIV infection was 5.0% (100/2016). All (100%) of the interviewed pregnant women were aware of HIV infection and most (76.7%) had adequate knowledge on its routes of transmission. Meanwhile, only 79.3% (119/150) of them were aware of MTCT with slightly above a third (37.0%) having adequate knowledge on the periods of transmission. The proportions of women correctly stating: during pregnancy, during labour/delivery and during breastfeeding as possible periods of MTCT of HIV were 63.0%, 60.5% and 89.1% respectively. A majority (76.3%) of these women had inadequate knowledge on PMTCT of HIV. The overall prevalence of maternal HIV warrants strengthening of current intervention strategies including scaling-up of PMTCT measures. Among others, intensification of HIV-related ANC services to improve the pregnant women's awareness and knowledge on MTCT and its prevention are vital steps in curbing the growing burden of paediatric HIV.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Conceptualization: CBS FFA-III.Formal analysis: CBS VFF.Investigation: CBS NMB.Methodology: CBS VFF MT JTT NMB.Resources: CBS MT JTT NMB FFA-III.Supervision: FFA-III.Writing – original draft: CBS.Writing – review & editing: CBS VFF MT JTT NMB FFA-III. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0172102