Browsing by Author "Ochigbo, C.E."

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    Pregnant Women’s Knowledge and Awareness of Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS and Voluntary Counselling and Confidential Testing (VCCT) Uptake in selected Health Centres in Zaria, Nigeria.
    (Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, 2011-04) Anyebe, E.E.; Whiskey, H.O.; Ajayi, D.A.; Garba, S.N.; Ochigbo, C.E.; Lawal, H.
    The most common route of HIV transmission to children is the vertical transmission. However, many antenatal clinic clients are said to have inadequate knowledge of the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and voluntary testing. The study was conducted in Sabon Gari, Zaria to determine the knowledge and awareness of pregnant women about the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV and voluntary counseling and confidential testing (VCCT). A convenience sample of 120 antenatal clients in three randomly selected health centres was used. Data were collected through a questionnaire. Findings showed a relatively lower level of knowledge (82.5%) of PMTCT of HIV /AIDS, a high awareness (93.5%) and uptake (58.3%) of VCCT among pregnant women. Those who did not do the test (41.7%) gave various reasons for their refusal, ranging from spouse disapproval to socio-cultural and psychological factors. Many of them however were aware of many advantages of VCCT and interventions for pregnant women who are found to be HIV positive. Antenatal talks and electronic mass media were their main sources of information. It is recommended that health programmes focus more on community clients and their spouses. Mass media workers should be appropriately equipped in the view of the roles they would have to play in health information dissemination.