Hiv infection prevalence among women visiting the Hiv counselling centre in Nnewi, Nigeria.

Objective: This study is aimed at determining the HIV prevalence rate among women attending the HIV counselling & testing centre at Nnewiand the effect of marital status on this.Method: This is a retrospective review of the records of women visiting the HIV counselling and testing (HCT) centre of the Nnamdi AzikiweUniversity Teaching Hospital from July 2004 to June 2005 to determine their HIV status. They include women attending antenatal clinic,premarital test, pre employment test and those referred from other centres for confirmation of their status. The data was analysed and presented in tables using comparative percentages.Results: HCT uptake during this period was 87.6% (1419/1620) while HIV sero-prevalence was 28.3% (402/1419). The breakdown of thefemale population showed a 15.3% (70/458) sero-positivity among pregnant women, 25.8% (69/268) sero-positivity among single non-pregnant girls and 38.0% (269/693) sero-positivity among married non-pregnant women. The 25 – 29 years age range had the highest sero-prevalence for HIV infection though there was no significant difference in prevalence of HIV infection for women above 20 years of age. However, the adolescents (15-19 years) had a significantly lower prevalence (