Barriers to Early Infant Diagnosis of Hiv in the Wa Municipal and Lawra District of the Upper West Region of Ghana

Abstract

About 90% of HIV new infections among infant and children younger than 14 years are due to mother-to-child transmission. More than half of these children die before their second birthday in the absence of treatment. However, mortality among HIV positive infants can be reduced by over 70% if treatment is initiated within the first three months after birth. Though Ghana has well established Prevention of Mother to Child/Early infant diagnosis (PMTCT/EID) service, over 80 % of HIV Exposed Infants (HEIs) are not tested by DNA PCR at 4 to 6 Weeks as recommended by WHO. The consequence of this is that thousands of HEIs are left undiagnosed and the NACPs (National AIDS control Program) goal of eliminating new infections among infant or reducing HIV related child deaths by 50% by 2015 does not appear to be likely. This study seeks to identify the socio-demographic, health system and psychosocial factors influencing the decision of HIV positive mothers to test their infants for early infant diagnosis by DBS-PCR (Dry Blood Spot DNA polymerase chain reaction)