Behavioral Factors Associated with HIV Transmission among Women attending a Postnatal Clinic at a Rural County in Kenya

Abstract

Introduction : Although most pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa are HIV negative, they remain at risk for HIV infection in the breastfeeding period. Several reasons are attributed to the woman’s or her partner's sexual behavior and the woman’s immediate sexual resumption after birth before complete healing. Emphasis is put on maintaining the HIV negative status of those women not infected in an effort to eradicate HIV infection. The purpose of this study was to describe the Behavioral Factors Associated with HIV transmission among Women of Reproductive Age attending Postnatal Clinic at a Rural County in Kenya. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted at Homabay district hospital, in Homa Bay County in Kenya. The sample was 234 breastfeeding women who tested HIV negative at the last HIV test after delivery. Data was collected for 2 months using researchers developed structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Chi-square test was used to determine significance of relationships between nominal variables. A P-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. Results : The study results showed that having other sexual partners (p=0.000), refusal to use condom (p=0.001), and forceful sex (p=0.004) correlated with mother’s post HIV test. It is therefore important that postpartum HIV testing for the mothers of both known and unknown HIV status to be carried out.