Volume 2022, Issue 1 3483767
Research Article
Open Access

The Burden of HIV Infection among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care in Jimma University Specialized Hospital in Ethiopia: A Retrospective Observational Study

Taye Kebede

Corresponding Author

Taye Kebede

Department of Biomedical Sciences and Immunology, Natural Sciences College, Madda Walabu University, P.O. Box 247, Bale-Robe, Ethiopia mwu.edu.et

Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia aau.edu.et

Search for more papers by this author
Michael Dayu

Michael Dayu

Department of Internal Medicine, College of Health Sciences and Medicine, Jimma University, P.O. Box 378, Jimma, Ethiopia ju.edu.et

Search for more papers by this author
Abiot Girma

Abiot Girma

Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences and Medicine, Jimma University, P.O. Box 378, Jimma, Ethiopia ju.edu.et

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 26 March 2022
Citations: 1
Academic Editor: Massimiliano Lanzafame

Abstract

Background. The HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) epidemic enters its fifth decade amid a global pandemic. Nearly 61% of the people newly infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The virus is transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy, labour, delivery, and breastfeeding, warranting routine counselling at antenatal care (ANC). Hence, this study aimed to determine the prevalence and trend of HIV infection among pregnant women on ANC follow-up at Jimma University Specialized Hospital (JUSH) in Ethiopia from November 2018 to 2021. Methods. A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted from June 25, 2021, to November 30, 2021. A total of 634 mothers were sampled by systematic random sampling, and the data were analyzed by descriptive statistics package of SPSS software. A chi-square test was employed to assess an association between variables. Analyses outputs were summarized and presented in tables and figures. Results. Among the sampled women (634), 96.1% received counselling services on the prevention of maternal-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS. Around 83.1% of the mothers refused to consult their partners and were unable to persuade their surrogate or afraid to discuss HIV serostatus tests. The overall prevalence of HIV infection among pregnant mothers was 7.1% and no significant decrease in the trends of HIV prevalence over the three years study period (p value >0.05). The seroprevalence is high in urban residents (4.4%) and age group of 25–29 years (38.9%) (p value <0.05). Residence, level of education attained, and marital status of women were significantly associated (p value <0.05) with seropositivity. Conclusion. HIV burden among ANC attendees in JUSH is high as compared to the national figure and its trend over three years is steady. Accordingly, mandatory early screening tests and community-based education are mandatory for all women and adolescent girls in the reproductive age group.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Data Availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.