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Background : Mother -to- child transmission of HIV infection is the major source of infection
under the age of 15 and global coverage of prevention of mother-to-child services reached 53%
in 2009 .However, factors that influence utilization of PMTCT service and referral linkage to
chronic ART clinic for HIV positive pregnant women are not well studied in Hawassa town.
Objective: To assess factors that influence utilization of PMTCT service and referral linkage to
chronic care before delivery in HIV positive pregnant women.
Methods: Facility based cross sectional study was conducted in 6 Hawassa town public health
facilities. Using systematic sampling procedure 588 study subject were included in the study. Indepth
interview was also used to gather greater depth of information. A pretested structured
questioner was used to collect data and the data analyzed using SPSS version 17. Moreover,
bivariate and multivariate logistic regression model with crude and adjusted OR along with their
95% confidence interval were used to see the independent effect of factors influencing
utilization of PMTCT service.
Results: A total number of 588 pregnant women were included in this study. Five hundred thirty
one (90.3%) of the respondents reported they had under gone voluntary counseling and testing
and 522(98.67%) of those who were tested received the test result and Four hundred ninety
nine (95.6%) were negative and twenty three (4.4%) were positive. Out of 23 women who
were positive HIV status twenty women were linked to chronic ART care service 12 of them
with formal referral linkage and eight of with non-formal and nine of those who were linked
to chronic ART care service started HAART while seven started ARV prophylaxis. Pregnant
women who were two or more number of ANC attendance were more likely to utilize PMTCT
service when compared to other sources [AOR=2.99% CI=1.44, 6.23]. The pregnant women
believed that their husbands support couple testing were associated with utilization of PMTCT
service [AOR=16.2,95% CI= 6.58, 39.67].The pregnant women who support the idea of every
pregnant should be tested also associated with utilization of PMTCT service [AOR=9.86, 95%
CI=3.67, 26.51].
Conclusion: partner involvement, increasing access of women to VCT, community based
education and sensitization targeted to the women and promoting PMTCT service to all facility
and improving referral system and getting feedback between facilities will create good referral
system between facilities is recommended.
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