Evaluating the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV Services in the Eastern Cape: subtitle if needed. If no subtitle follow instructions in manual

Abstract text To effectively reduce HIV transmission to newborns requires a reduction of HIV prevalence among pregnant women and a full understanding of its epidemiology. There is however, a literature gap: few recent HIV studies focus on women attending antenatal care in rural areas in South Africa. A Cross-sectional study of women attending antenatal care in four Primary Care facilities was conducted. An interviewer-administered questionnaire to collect information on socio-demographic characteristics and medical history was used. Binomial logistic regression analyses were used to determine factors associated with HIV and to estimate the prevalence ratio (PR). The 95% confidence interval (CI) is used for precision of estimates; p≤0.05 for statistical significance. A total of 343 participants were recruited. Most participants (n = 341 or 99.42%; CI: 97.91 – 99.93) knew their HIV status. The antenatal HIV prevalence was 38.19% (CI: 33.17 – 43.48). Participants older than 40 years were 3.99 and 3.81 times more likely to be HIV positive compared to teenagers (PR = 3.99; CI: 1.11 – 14.30; pstxvalue = 0.034) and those in the 20-29 age group (PR = 3.81; CI: 1.07 – 13.60; pstxvaluevalue = 0.039) respectively; and this was statistically significant. Unemployed participants were 34% (PR = 1.34; CI: 1.16 – 1.55; p-value less than 0.0001) and 41 percent (PR = 1.41; CI: 1.23 – 1.61; p-value less than 0.0001) more likely to be HIV positive when compared to tertiary students and self-employed individuals respectively. The antenatal HIV prevalence remains high and is increasing in this population. However, findings suggest a changing and maturing epidemic.Thesis (MMED) -- Faculty of Health Sciences, 201