Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, &amp; Practice among Mothers about VCT and Feeding of Infants Born to HIV Positive Women in Jimma Town, Ethiopia
Creators: name: Hailu, Chernet
Publisher: name: National Academic Digital Repository of Ethiopia
Year: 2005

description: Background: In Ethiopia, 96 000 children under fifteen live with HIV, which is related to the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS and mother to child transmission (MTCT) of the virus.Without intervention, the risk of MTCT of HIV is 15-30% in non breastfeeding populations; breastfeeding by an infected mother increases the risk by 5-20% to a total of 20-45%. Studies have also shown the variation in MTCT rates by duration of breastfeeding, exclusivity of breastfeeding, and the danger of mixed feeding. Objectives: This study was aimed at describing the levels and identifying determinants of knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of mothers about VCT and feeding of infants born to HIV positive women. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted using quantitative method on 876 mothers (231 pregnant and 645 lactating) residing in Jimma town in December 2004 to January 2005, and in-depth interviews on 12 health workers working in VCT/PMTCT service providing health institutions of the town. Results: Among the mothers (n=876), 38.8% had sufficient knowledge about MTCT (during pregnancy, labor, breastfeeding), 41.8% had sufficient knowledge about PMTCT, 30.5% had sufficient knowledge about infant feeding options recommended to HIV positive women, 62.4% had favorable attitude to wards VCT, 4.7% had favorable attitude towards the feeding options, 84.5% visited health institutions for antenatal care and 35.7% used VCT service during their last pregnancy. The lactating mothers (n=643) practiced mixed feeding 81%, exclusive breastfeeding 13.4% and exclusive replacement feeding 0.4%, and most (90.9%) of the pregnant mothers intended to mixed feed their infants of age 0-6 months. Based on logistic regression analysis, knowledge of the mothers about the infant feeding options was significantly associated with their address, age, husbands being important persons for mothers viii to decide on how to feed their infants, and counseling mothers on infant feeding during ANC. Mothers' attitude towards the feeding options significantly associated with their address. Infant feeding practices of lactating mothers was also having a statistically significant association with their ANC use, place of delivery, and address. Most of the health workers (in-depth interview participants) provided directive advice about the infant feeding optios, and most didn't include the options heat treated expressed breast milk and HIV negative wet nurse. The participants mentioned mainly failure to afford formula milk, fear of stigma/discrimination, and partners not involved in HIV test as reasons for non adherence of HIV positive mothers to exclusive replacement feeding; while the mothers' sickness to exclusive breast feeding. In turn, the mothers shifted to mixed feeding. Conclusion: Mixed feeding increases the risk of non HIV diseases like diarrhea and malnutrition for infants of age 0-6 months, and for most of mothers didn't know their HIV status potentially increases risk of MTCT of HIV. Therefore, strengthening counseling mothers on safe infant feeding practices, and introducing an appropriately designed BCC program to the community on safe infant feeding practices and importance of partners' involvement in HIV testing and other recommendations are forwarded. Key words: - Infant feeding, VCT, PMTCT, MTCT.