ISSN 2736-1748
African Journal of AIDS and HIV Research Vol. 1 (2), pp. 016-025, November, 2013. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Level of male partner involvement and associated factors in prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS services in Debremarkos town, Northwest Ethiopia
Endawoke Amsalu1, Gebeyaw Tiruneh2 and Amanuel Alemu Abajobir1
1Public Health Department, Health Sciences College, Debremarkos University, Debremarkos, Ethiopia.
2GAMBY College of Medical Sciences, Bahirdar, Ethiopia.
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Accepted 30 September, 2013
Abstract
The largest source of HIV infection in children is mother-to-child transmission. Lack of men involvement deprives women of their partners care and support in coping with HIV infection, in taking antiretroviral therapy and making appropriate infant feeding choices. Thus, this study assessed the level of male involvement and associated factors in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. A cross-sectional study was conducted using simple random sampling from 15th March to 30th April 2013. Pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data were collected from 274 respondents. The data were cleaned, coded and entered into Epi Info 6.0 then exported and analyzed using SPSS 16.0. One hundred ninety eight (72.26%) of the respondents scored above seven on a 14-point scale of measurement for male involvement. Male involvement was found to have a statistically significant association with self-employment (AOR= 0.36, 95%CI: 0.16-0.84), daily laborer (AOR= 0.14, 95%CI: 0.06-0.36), moderate knowledge about PMTCT (AOR= 4.4, 95%CI: 1.9-10.0), good knowledge about PMTCT (AOR= 3.2, 95%CI: 1.29-7.9) and moderate programmatic factors (AOR= 10, 95%CI: 2.0-56.0). The level of male partner involvement was 198 (72.26%). Information on PMTCT coupled with male-friendly PMTCT services should be provided to the public.
Key words: Male involvement, PMTCT, HIV/AIDS, Ethiopia, HIV/AIDS.