Abstract

Nirmala Pokharel*, Mangala Shrestha and Sami Lama

PMTCT (prevention of mother to child transmission) is a commonly used term for an intervention programme designed to reduce the risk of mother to child transmission of HIV. In 2008, there were more than 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide out of which, 2.5 million were children under 15 years old. Mother to child transmission is the largest source of HIV infections in Nepal. Out of the estimated 900,000 annual pregnancies, 1,800 pregnancies are estimated to occur in HIV positive woman (0.2% HIV prevalence) leading to as annual cohort of about 450 to 810 infected new born. Creating awareness about PMTCT services among stake holders and people living with HIV/AIDS is helpful in initiating and communicating the information about PMTCT services to the pregnant women. The objective of this study is to assess the awareness of stake holders and PLWHA regarding prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS. Cross sectional study was done including 100 stake holders and 50 people living with HIV/AIDS of attending Dharan municipality and Dharan positive centre respectively. Semi structure questionnaire was used to assess the awareness. The study findings show that 61% of the stake holders and PLWHA had inadequate knowledge on HIV/AIDS and PMTCT, only few pregnant women referring by stakeholder and people living with HIV/AIDS for utilization of PMTCT services. Age and religion are associated with overall knowledge of HIV/AIDS and PMTCT, where p value is 0.024, 0.012, respectively. Education, family size and training are not associated with overall knowledge of HIV/AIDS and PMTCT. In General, inadequate knowledge was found 61% of the respondents. Thus it is important that need to conduct more awareness programme among different stake holders will be worthwhile, as they directly and indirectly contact with pregnant women and can inform and motivate them to utilize these services.