EVALUATING HIV AWARENESS AMONG OBSTETRIC POPULATION AT A PUBLIC HOSPITAL IN MALAYSIA

1. EVALUATING HIV AWARENESS AMONG OBSTETRIC POPULATION AT A PUBLIC HOSPITAL IN MALAYSIA Nazimah Idris, Pow Jun Yan, SakYeow Hong, Lavanya Narayanan, Lukmanul Hakim Misron International Medical University Malaysia Methods Results Conclusions Objectives • A self-administered questionnaire was used as a survey instrument. All obstetric patients admitted to the antenatal wards for various reasons from August to November 2011 were invited to participate in the survey. • The areas addressed by the questionnaire : • General knowledge about HIV and its effect on pregnancy and vice versa and the source of information • Mothers’ attitude towards antenatal HIV testing • The conduct of the pre-test counselling and the effectiveness of the counselling session. • Confirmation of antenatal HIV screening test for current pregnancy was obtained from the home-based antenatal records. • The level of awareness regarding HIV infection and pregnancy among our respondents can be much improved. • While the majority of our pregnant mothers had the antenatal HIV screening, there is a definite need for improvement in regards to the communication skills of the health providers to ensure appropriate conduct of the antenatal HIV pre-test counselling and screening. • BACKGROUND: • Reducing vertical transmission is an important strategy to reduce worldwide infection. The HIV screening program for antenatal mothers was piloted in Malaysia in 1997 and a formal program was implemented in 1998 in all public health facilities with the aim of detecting maternal HIV infection and providing treatment to reduce the vertical transmission. All pregnant mothers are counselled and offered the HIV screening test. The pre-test counselling and the actual screening test were performed by staff nurses in primary care facilities. This is an opt-in program. We are interested to know how aware are our pregnant mothers on the matter of HIV infection in pregnancy, after more than a decade of implementing the program. • OBJECTIVES: • To evaluate: • The level of knowledge of pregnant mothers regarding HIV infection in pregnancy, • The women’s attitude towards routine screening of HIV infection in pregnancy • The effectiveness of pre-test antenatal HIV counselling in educating the pregnant women about the antenatal HIV screening. • 650 respondents participated in the survey. This is approximately 10% of the total annual delivery for the institution. There were no cases of HIV infection detected within this cohort. • The level of knowledge: • General aspects of HIV infection : Good (average > 80% correct answers) • Knowledge about the effects of HIV infection on pregnancy and vice versa: Poor (average <50% correct answers) • Knowledge regarding preventing vertical transmission: Moderately Good (60-80% correct answers) • The attitude towards antenatal HIV screening: • 90.8% of the mothers consented to be screened for HIV, the main reason for agreeing for the test was to avoid transmission to fetus. • 9.2% declined the test, the main reason was concern over the confidentiality issue. • The effectiveness of the pre-test counselling: • A total of 99.5% were screened • 53% were aware of having the test performed and aware of the test results • 19% were satisfied with the way the pre-test counselling was conducted References 1. Economy Planning Unit Prime Minister Department Malaysia (1961); Malaysia achieving the millennium development grads: improve maternal health; 2005 Jan. p.155-8 2. Wong LP, Chin CKL, Low WY, et al. HIV/AIDS-related knowledge among Malaysian Young Adults: Findings from a nationwide survey. J Int AIDS Soc. 2008;10: 148-56 3. Rogers MF, Moseley RR, Simonds RJ, et al. US Public Health Service recommendations for human immunodeficiency virus counseling and voluntary testing for pregnant women. MMWR. 1995;44: 1-15 4. Ahamad J. PMTCT programme implementation in Malaysia: a 5-year experience. Int Conf AIDS. 2004 Jul 11-16. abstract no. C12684 5. Haider, G., Zohra, N., Nisar, N., & Munir, A. A. (2009). Knowledge about AIDS/HIV infection among women attending obstetrics and gynaecology clinic at a university hospital. JPMA, 59(2), 95-98.