Knowledge, attitudes and practices of contraception by HIV positive women followed in a Cameroon region with high illiteracy rate: a cross sectional study

Abstract

IntroductionTo evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices of contraception by HIV positive women.MethodsThis cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in the Maroua Regional Hospital (Cameroon) from September 1st, 2012 to February 28th, 2013. All HIV positive women aged between 15 and 49 years who were received in the HIV clinic were recruited. The variables recorded included maternal age, number of living children, marital status, religion, the educational level, and the use of antiretroviral treatment (HAART), the knowledge, attitude and practice of contraception. Analyses were done using SPSS 18.0. Fisher exact test was used for comparison. The level of significance was P < 0.05.ResultsA total of 200 HIV positive women were recruited and 98% knew at least one method of contraception The need of a contraceptive method was present in 84% of HIV positive women, as soon as the women were ≥30 years (OR 2.6, 95%CI 1.3-4.9), on HAART (OR 2.8, 95%CI 0.8-9.2), divorced (OR 1.7, 95%CI 0.8-3.7), had ≥3 living children (OR 1.2, 95%CI 0.6-2.4) and when the women were educated (OR 1.2, 95%CI 0.6-2.4). The rate of condom use was 50.7%.ConclusionThe knowledge of contraception as well as the contraception need among HIV positive women was high in this region despite high illiteracy rate. Therefore, all contraceptive methods should be made available to these women. Towards these women and their partner(s), more emphasis should be made on the systematic condom use even when using other contraceptive methods (dual protection).

Reproductive Plans And Utilization of Contraceptives Among Women Living With HIV

“…Having many children by WLHIV may be related to knowledge about pregnancy risks HIV-positive women are exposed to during pregnancy. Prior related studies have reported similar results in Ethiopia,24 Ghana,21 and Brazil 25. Hence, there may be need to include importance of having very few children in counselling WLHIV.…”

Patterns and predictors of contraceptive usage among HIV-positive women of reproductive age attending PMTCT/ART clinics in Ogbomoso, Nigeria

“…This finding suggests that respondents with higher education are more likely to go for family planning services than those with lower education. This agrees with several other studies that revealed that women with higher education status tends to be better informed about family planning services and have greater access to family planning and are more likely to use the service than their peers with lower education (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(26)(27)(28). This may be due to the influence education make on their decision making process.…”

“…The majority of the respondents were educated which is similar to a study done in Ghana (13). It was also found that two thirds of the respondents were Christians which is similar to a study done in Ghana (13) and contrasted to the study in Northern Nigerian where majority of the participants were Muslims (14) and that done in Cameroon (15) while over half of the respondents 57.4% were of the Yoruba speaking extraction which may be due to the fact that the study was carried out in the Yoruba speaking locality.…”

“…The study also shows that a greater preponderance of the respondents are using the contraceptives for less than 5 years which is similar to study done in Ethiopia where the women were using the contraceptives for period less than two to five years (23). The respondents demonstrated unfavorable attitude to contraceptive as opposed to a study done in Cameroon where 84% of the women has positive attitude towards contraception (15).…”

“…Good knowledge of contraception was seen in 58.5 % of respondents which was found to be higher in a study done in Cameroon (15) .The study showed that adequate knowledge about contraception to be a statistically significant of predictor of usage of contraception. Women who had adequate knowledge about contraception were twice more likely to use contraception compared to those with inadequate knowledge (P=0.001, OR= 1.9, CI= 1.08 -1.96).…”