Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of hiv: acceptance to hiv testing at saint camille hospital, ouagadougou

Background: Mother-to-child transmission of HIV is a public health problem in Burkina Faso. The main objective of this study is to analyze screening test acceptance among pregnant women during their antenatal visit, the first phase of vertical prevention. Methods: The study recruited pregnant women under 32 weeks of amenorrhea who came for their antenatal visit. Results: Of 12467 pregnant women, only 3215 (25.79%) agreed to undergo HIV testing and counselling (HTC). This represents a refusal rate of 74.21% (9252/12467). In this study, we note that there is a significant change in the number of pregnant women consenting to HIV testing during the period under consideration: the acceptance rate has increased from 18.69% in 2009 to 35.46% in 2019 (p<0.0001). We also note that the participation rate was the same at both the pre-test and post-test levels. Women who came to the antenatal consultation for their first, second and third pregnancies represented 35.21%, 24.14% and 17.33% of the 3215 women respectively. And 23.33% of women were at least in their fourth pregnancy. About 12.26% of the women included in the study were HIV positive (394/3215). Among HIV-positive women, 12.69% were women who came to antenatal consultation for their first pregnancy, 25.63% for their second, 28.17% for their third, and 33.50% for those who had four or more pregnancies. Conclusion: This study shows that acceptance of HIV testing and counselling among pregnant women remains low. The highest acceptance rate was among women with their first pregnancy. Therefore, an awareness campaign on HTC would help to improve the participation rate of pregnant women in this program in order to enable efficient case detection and, at the same time, effective prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.