| dc.description.abstract | Background: Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV infection remains a major public health problem and constitutes the most important cause of HIV infection in children. Knowledge of women on MTCT of HIV is very important for successful intervention toward prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and achieving the goal of eliminating the new HIV infection. The objective of the study was to assess comprehensive knowledge of women in reproductive age on MTCT of HIV and associated factors in Uganda.
Methods: The study, based on data from the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS), analyzed 18,506 weighted cases of women aged 15–49. Both descriptive and multilevel binary logistic regressions were used to analyze the data. Chi-squared tests and multivariate logistic regressions were used to examine the predictors of comprehensive knowledge of mother to child transmission of HIV. The main explanatory variables included age, marital status, religion, region, residence, education, occupation, wealth and media exposure.
Results: The overall prevalence of comprehensive knowledge of mother to child transmission of HIV among women in Uganda was 55%. women’s age, marital status, employment status and region were found to be the predictors of comprehensive knowledge of mother to child transmission of HIV among women of reproductive ages in Uganda. Women in the age group 25-29 (OR = 1.2780, CI 1.1219-1.460), 30-34 (OR = 1.3244, CI 1.1799), 35-39 (OR =1.1799, CI 1.0142-1.3727) and 40-44 (OR=1.2207, CI 1.0470-1.4231) were more likely to have comprehensive knowledge of MTCT of HIV compared with women in age group 15-19. Also, women working in agriculture had higher odds (OR = 1.1313, CI 1.0192-1.2558) of having comprehensive knowledge of MTCT of HIV compared with unemployed women. Also, women who were currently married and formerly in union had higher odds of having comprehensive knowledge of MTCT of HIV with (OR =1.6449, CI 1.7168) and (OR=1.466-
1.8453, CI 1.4924-1.9749) respectively.
Conclusion: The finding from this study revealed that knowledge of women on MTCT of HIV was low. This may contribute to increase the spread of MTCT of HIV. To quicken the fight against new infections of HIV, preventative strategies should focus on increasing comprehensive knowledge in all age groups but specific to adolescent women (15–19 years) and should consider disproportionate of knowledge among regions. | en_US |
