Male Partner Involvement In Prevention Of Mother-To-Child Transmission Of HIV Among Women Attending State Specialist Hospital, Osogbo, Nigeria

ABSTRACT The study assessed the level of knowledge of HIV-positive women on mother-to-child transmission of HIV (MTCT) among women of reproductive age group receiving Hospital based care The study was a descriptive cross sectional survey that employed both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. The study population for the quantitative survey was HIV positive pregnant and non-pregnant women receiving care at the ART centre while those for the qualitative survey were male partners of HIV positive women receiving care at the centre. For the quantitative survey, 270 HIV positive pregnant and non-pregnant women were recruited using Systematic sampling technique. Participants in the qualitative survey were purposely selected based on their involvement in PMTCT and PMTCT services and qualitative data was collected through a focus guide applied on male partners of the HIV positive women and key informant guide applied on the selected health workers. Data collected from the qualitative survey was analysed using content analysis and reported verbatim based on subthemes. The study showed that 85.9% of the respondents have heard of PMTCT of HIV, 68.5% had poor knowledge of PMTCT while 31.5% had good knowledge. For the qualitative survey, most of the respondents had heard about PMTCT and PMTCT services, knew that men had significant roles to play when their wives were pregnant; This study concluded that majority of the respondents had a poor knowledge of PMTCT of HIV; and the level of male involvement in PMTCT was low. Keywords: Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Prevention of mother to child transmission