An assessment of the understanding of the offer of routine HIV testing among pregnant women in rural Zimbabwe

Linnetie Mugore (1) , Barbara Engelsmann (1) , Theresa Ndoro (1) , Francois Dabis (2) , Freddy Perez (2)

1 Institute of Public Health, Epidemiology and Development (ISPED), Zimbabwe
2 HIV-AIDS Unit

Objective: Assess the understanding of routine offer of HIV testing among women using antenatal care (ANC) services in a rural African district. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted in Murewa district, Zimbabwe, among women consecutively enrolled during their first ANC visit in 10 health centres offering prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services including routine offer of HIV testing. Findings: Ninety-three (64%) of the 146 respondents had received some form of education on the importance of HIV testing before visiting the health centre on the day of their interview. Almost all respondents (n=139; 95%) felt that the information provided during the group education was sufficient to make a decision on whether or not they should have an HIV test. HIV testing uptake was high with 136 (93%) women being tested for HIV on the day of the interview. Of these, 128 (94%) were aware that they had been tested for HIV when interviewed at the time of receiving results. Fifty percent (n=67) of the women who accepted HIV testing directly after group education as part of their routine ANC blood tests, were not aware however of the possibility of opting for individual pre-test counseling. Conclusion: In Zimbabwe, implementation of routine offer of HIV testing allowed women using ANC services to make an informed conscious decision to undertake an HIV test as part of the PMTCT package of services. There is a need to emphasize the availability of further individual pretest counseling if necessary since a selected subgroup of women may still benefit from it.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Linnetie Mugore, Barbara Engelsmann, Theresa Ndoro, Francois Dabis, Freddy Perez. An assessment of the understanding of the offer of routine HIV testing among pregnant women in rural Zimbabwe. AIDS Care, 2008, 20 (06), pp.660-666. ⟨10.1080/09540120701687034⟩. ⟨hal-00513432⟩