HIV testing, test results and factors influencing among infants born to HIV positive mothers in public hospitals of Mekelle City, North Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Timely infant testing for HIV is critical to ensure optimal treatment outcomes among exposed infants. While world health organization recommends HIV exposed infants to be tested between 4 to 6 weeks of age, in developing countries like Ethiopia, access to timely infant testing is still very limited. The study is intended to assess timely infant testing, testing for HIV at the 18th month, test results and factors influencing HIV positivity among infants born to HIV positive mothers in public hospitals of Mekelle, Ethiopia. Methods:A cross-sectional study design was employed on 558 HIV exposed infants, using consecutive sampling technique. A checklist was used to extract 4 years (Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20, and binary logistic regression model was used to examine the association of independent variables with the outcome variables. Results: Timely infant testing for HIV accounted for 346(62.0%). Mothers who attended antenatal care (AOR: 2.77; 95% CI: 1.17, 6.55) and who were counselled on feeding options (AOR: 2.01; 95% CI: 1.11, 3.65) were strongly associated with timely infant testing. Poor maternal adherence status was associated with infants' HIV positivity at the 18th month of antibody test (AOR: 15.93; 95% CI: 2.21, 94.66). Being rural resident (AOR: 4.0; 95% CI: 1.23, 13.04), being low birth weight (AOR: 5.64; 95% CI: 2.00, 16.71) and not receiving ARV prophylaxis (AOR: 4.70; 95% CI: 1.15, 19.11) were positively associated with the overall HIV positivity. Conclusions: A considerable proportion of exposed infants did not undergo timely testing for HIV. Antenatal care follow-up and counselling on feeding options were associated with timely infant testing. Mother's poor adherence status was associated with infant's HIV positivity at the 18th month of antibody testing. Being rural resident, being low birth weight, and not receiving ARV prophylaxis were the factors that enhance the overall HIV positivity. Timely infant testing, counselling on feeding options and adherence should be intensified, and prevention of mother-tochild transmission program in rural settings need to be strengthened.

Maternal Educational Level Determine Mother-to-child Transmission of HIV Among HIV-exposed Infants in Governmental Health Facility of Bahir Dar City, Northwest Ethiopia.

“…Unlike other earlier studies (31,(39)(40)(41), home delivery, mixed infant feeding, residency, marital status, and infants were without ARV prophylaxis did not show a statistically signi cant relationship with the outcome variable in the nal model. This variation may be due to the difference in sample size, study area, study design, method of analysis or could be also attributed to the quality of data captured.…”

“…In our study, ANC follow-up was strongly associated with mother-to-child transmission of HIV, which was consistent with similar studies carried out in Ethiopia (40). The possible reason could be that one of the components of ANC service is health education and awareness creation about mother-to-child transmission of HIV.…”

Early diagnosis, vertical transmission of HIV and its associated factors among exposed infants after implementation of the Option B+ regime in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Among the 19 studies included in this review, seven were from Amhara ( Berhan et al., 2014 ; Deribessa et al., 2016 ; Moges et al., 2017 ; Tsehay, 2019 ; Yitayew et al., 2019 ; Kassaw et al., 2020a ; Kassie et al., 2020 ), seven studies were from Oromia ( Bayou et al., 2015 ; Olana et al., 2016 ; Aga, 2017 ; Mama et al., 2017 ; Obsa et al., 2018 ; Chaka et al., 2019 ; Debelew et al., 2020 ), two studies were from Tigray ( Desta et al., 2019 , Ebuy et al., 2020 ), and the remaining three studies were from Addis Ababa ( Negash and Ehlers, 2016 ), South Nation Nationality and People ( Yosef et al., 2020 ) and Dire Dawa ( Wudineh and Damtew, 2016 ). The majority of the included studies were cohort studies ( n =11) and eight studies had a cross-sectional design.…”

Epidemiology of HIV Infection Among HIV-Exposed Infants, Nairobi County, Kenya, 2015

“…A total of 3464 (59.7%) HEIs had HIV PCR testing done within the first 2 months of life (per World Health Organization [WHO] guidelines), 6 of which 119 (3.4%) tested positive ( Table 1 ). Most HEIs (4420 [76.2%]) were first identified and services provided to them at maternal and child health clinics/service delivery points, where a total of 246 (5.6%) were HIV-positive.…”