Abstract:
HIV status disclosure to partners is critical in improving the health and
well-being of mother-infant dyad in the prevention of HIV transmission from
mother to child (PMTCT) program. This study assesses the HIV disclosure
rate to intimate partners, associated factors, and outcomes among women in
the PMTCT program in two large HIV clinics in Abuja, Nigeria. A descriptive
cross-sectional study employed a multi-stage sampling technique in selecting
220 pregnant women enrolled in PMTCT care in two clinics. Outcomes measures
include HIV status disclosure to intimate partner, women’s viral suppression
status (suppressed < 1000 copies/mL, unsuppressed ≥ 1000 copies/mL),
and previous MTCT experience. Exposure variables include the participant’s
socio-demographic characteristics and HIV care history. Data were presented
using frequency tables. Simple and multivariate logistic regression was done
to ascertain the predictors of HIV status disclosure and assess the association
between HIV disclosure, viral suppression, and MTCT experience at a p-value
of less than 0.05. Only 205 (96.7%) entries were completed and analyzed A
larger percentage of the participants were married women, 158 (77.1%), within
the age group 26 - 35 years (53.3%). Women’s HIV status disclosure rate to
intimate partners was 49.3% (101/205). Factors associated with HIV disclosure
rate to intimate partners at the univariate level were the participant’s age,
Christian religion [COR: 1.80, 95%CI: 1.04 - 3.21, p = 0.04], full employment
[COR: 1.92, 95%CI: 1.10 - 3.34, p = 0.02], HIV positivity prior to PMTCTenrollment [COR: 2.88, 95%CI: 1.26 - 6.59, p < 0.01], duration on antiretroviral
therapy [COR: 1.07, 95%CI: 1.01 - 1.13, p = 0.03], and knowledge of
partner’s HIV status [COR: 0.20, 95%CI: 0.08 - 0.51, p < 0.01]. Only HIV positivity
prior to PMTCT enrollment [AOR: 3.27, 95%CI: 1.23 - 8.70, p < 0.01]
and awareness of the partner’s HIV status, [AOR: 0.17, 95%CI: 0.06 - 0.49, p
< 0.01] were significant predictors of HIV status disclosure after controlling
for confounder. The two study outcomes; women’s viral suppression and MTCT
experience were not significantly associated with participants’ HIV status disclosure
to intimate partners. Our study shows that HIV disclosure to intimate
partners is still a big challenge among pregnant women in PMTCT settings in
Nigeria, with awareness of the partner’s HIV status and the type of patient
enrollment in the PMTCT setting being the two strong predictors of pregnant
women’s HIV disclosure status to partners.
