Prevalence OF HIV Among HIV Exposed Infants And Associated Factors, AT Art Clinic Bukomero Health Centre IV Kiboga District.

Abstract

BACKGROUND The sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 80% of all the new mother to child transmission of HIV globally. There has been a decrease in the number MTCT cases in the past years due to an increase in utilization of PMTCT services however there are still gaps in developing countries Objective To determine the prevalence of HIV among HIV exposed infants and associated factors, at ART clinic Bukomero health Centre IV Kiboga district. Methodology It was a descriptive cross-section study among women living with HIV and their infants

attending EID department at Bukomero health centre IV. Data was collected using self- administered questionnaires and Laboratory results were obtained by using results obtained

from EID department for infants below 18month and determines HIV 1&2 strips with positives confirmed with start Pak for infants at 18month. Results A total of 102 HIV positive women and their infants attending EID department at Bukomero health Centre IV were enrolled. Out of these, more than half 54 (52.9%) of the children were female whereas the males were 48 (57.1%). Majority 70 (68.6%) of the mothers were staying with their husbands, 31 (30.4%) of the mothers were single mothers and only 1% of the respondents were divorced. a prevalence rate of 2% was obtained among the study population. The study also revealed that majority 98 (96.1%) of the mothers received ARVs during their pregnancy, only 4 (3.9%) did not receive the ARVs during the pregnancy period. Similarly, majority 96 94.1%) of the mothers delivered from a health facility. Only 6 (5.9%) of the respondents did not deliver from a health facility and hospital delivery and imitation on ART were significantly associated with prevalence of HIV. Statistical analysis revealed that level of education was significantly associated with the vertical transmission of HIV among exposed children (P<0.05) in the study population. Conclusion and recommendation Generally, the observed prevalence of vertical transmission of HIV is still high in the study area compared to the WHO goal of elimination of vertical transmission of HIV (< 50case in, the utilization of MCH is high and I recommend initiation of mothers on ART and hospital delivery in order to bridge the