VOLUNTARY HIV TESTING AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN ATTENDING ANTENATAL CARE SERVICES AT MOSES KOTANE SUB-DISTRICT

Abstract

South Africa is one of the countries in the world with the largest numbers of HIV infections, with a prevalence rate that has remained at around 29 per cent over the past three years. Statistics reflect that Mother to Child Transmission (MTCT) ranks second as a mode of transmission for HIV. Voluntary HIV testing is vital to efforts to prevent mother-to-child-transmission as it serves as an entry point into the interventions that have been made available for HIV-positive pregnant women. The purpose of the study was to understand the reasons why pregnant women were not accepting voluntary HIV testing, which led to low testing rates at 66.7 per cent for Bojanala district in 2007/2008. The study explored how issues of informed consent, confidentiality and choice affected testing decisions of pregnant women. An interpretive qualitative study was undertaken. In-depth interviews and document analysis were conducted at Mogwase Health Centre in Moses Kotane Sub District. Four health care workers and five pregnant women participated in the interviews. Document analysis was conducted using clinic documents relevant to the study in order to determine the HIV testing trends for the period May to October, 2009, with a focus on data elements that feed into the indicator for HIV testing rate. The study revealed that almost all participants expressed willingness to test and had already been tested before. All the pregnant women felt it was important to test to protect the unborn baby. Both in-depth interviews with health care workers and document analysis revealed that all pregnant women attending antenatal care services at Mogwase accept voluntary HIV testing. This is an interesting finding when viewed in relation to the percentage as reported in the District Health Barometer. There is an overwhelming tendency towards voluntary HIV testing. This only reflects pregnant women who attended antenatal care services at Mogwase. However, it is not known what proportion of pregnant women in this community do not utilize Mogwase health centre. Some discrepancies were identified between data at the clinic and data at the sub district health information office.