Recent Trends in the Epidemiology of HIV in Antenatal Women at a Tertiary Care Center

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction Globally, women and children are the fastest growing group of HIV-positive individuals. As 90% of the pediatric HIV infection is due to mother to child transmission, determination of the seroprevalence in pregnancy will also enable us to take some measures to decrease the transmission to the newborn. Objective To study the seroprevalance of HIV among pregnant women. Methods Data of 31,328 women attending the antenatal clinic from January 2006 to December 2009 was analyzed. The pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic for consultation were counseled for HIV testing, informed consent was obtained and blood samples collected for HIV testing. Seropositive women were questioned regarding their awareness of AIDS, personal habits, blood transfusion, drug abuse and methods of contraception. Spouses of the seropositive pregnant women were also counseled and similarly tested for HIV. Results Acceptability of the test after patient counseling was 72.85%, and 95.3% women attended post-test counseling and collected reports. Conclusion There is no definite treatment for HIV/AIDS; however, the pandemic can be controlled by education and behavioral modification.