Abstract
In sub-Saharan Africa little is known about how often women use pregnancy self-tests or characteristics of these women despite evidence that pregnancy self-testing is associated with early antenatal care (ANC) initiation. Understanding the characteristics of women who use pregnancy self-tests can facilitate more targeted efforts to improve pregnancy testing experiences and entry into the ANC pathway. We conducted a cross-sectional survey among pregnant women enrolling in a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) implementation study to determine the prevalence and factors associated with pregnancy self-testing among women in western Kenya. Overall, in our study population, 17% of women obtained a pregnancy self-test from a pharmacy. Pregnancy test use was higher among employed women, women with secondary and college-level educated partners, and women who spent 30 minutes or less traveling to the maternal and child health (MCH) clinic. The most reported reasons for non-use of pregnancy self-tests included not thinking it was necessary, lack of knowledge, and money to pay for the test. Future research should focus on understanding the knowledge and attitudes of women toward pregnancy self-testing as well as developing community-based models to improve access to pregnancy testing and ANC.
Funder
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Diversity Supplement award, NIH NIAID
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Cited by
7 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献