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    Early Infant Diagnosis of HIV and the Associated Factors Among Children Born to HIV Positive Mothers in Kapchorwa District
    (International Health Sciences University, 2013-09) Achebet, Sylvia
    Background: Based on the most recent global estimates, 2.3 million children younger than 15 years of age are living with HIV, (UNAIDS, 2010) and in line with this, mother to child transmission of HIV results in approx. 370,000 infant infections worldwide each year, (UNAIDS/UNICEF/WHO, 2011). Many countries are moving towards national coverage of services for eMTCT; however most children born to women who are HIV positive are not being systematically monitored and followed up during the post partum period. Main objective: To establish the factors associated with EID of HIV among the children born to HIV positive mothers in Kapchorwa district. Methodology: A total of 130 respondents who had at least an exposed child and were attending HIV care services were interviewed face to face after consent. This was conducted in Kapchorwa district in three health facilities that are offering ART and EID of HIV services. Every respondent was assessed for eligibility using the stipulated criteria for example whether the exposed child was within the age bracket of 6 weeks to 18 months. A researcher administered questionnaire was the data collection tool that had mostly closed ended questions. Univariate and bivariate analysis was used for statistical analysis. Results: Of the 130 respondents interviewed, majority 79(60.8%) of them were age between 25-35 years and 118(90.8%) were biological mothers of the exposed children. As regards parity, 91(70%) of the respondents had less than 4 children and only one (0.8%) of them was male. More than half of the exposed children 74(56.9%) were aged less than 14 months and 66(50.8%) were male. Among the exposed children, 59(45.4%) of them were tested at six weeks as recommended while more than half (54.6%) had delayed diagnosis. The factors that were found to be significantly associated with EID were linkage (referral) from entry points to EID care points (P-value 0.001) and disclosure of the child’s HIV status (P-value 0.012). Conclusion: The level of Early Infant Diagnosis in this study was slightly higher than the national level figures. Linkage from all entry points to the EID care point and disclosure of the child’s HIV status were found to be significant variables that influenced EID of HIV among the exposed children. Recommendations: Mothers/caregivers must be encouraged to disclose their child’s HIV status to someone they trust so as to enhance the care the child receives. Secondly an appropriate linkage (referral) mechanism should be instituted by each setup designed to offer pediatric HIV care services to minimize lost cases. Every health worker – the new and old should undergo in service training on EID of HIV to enhance service delivery at every entry point. Further inquiry should be done on a large scale for example at a regional level so as to make comparison to generalize the findings to a bigger population therefore this calls for more funding into paediatric HIV interventions.