Uptake and barriers of voluntary counseling and testing among antenatal care attendants, southwest Ethiopia

BACKGROUND . Voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) service provides an essential knowledge, skill and helps pregnant women to access intervention such as short course antiretroviral and infant feeding options. Therefore, the potential barriers to the service need to be assessed. OBJECTIVE: This study is intended to examine the uptake of VCT and its barrier among Antenatal care (ANC) attendants in southwest Ethiopia. METHODS- Health institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from Sept. 1. 2004 to Nov. 1, 2004 a mong ANC attendants in southwest Ethiopia. A total of 285 pregnant women were selected conveniently. Additionally, five experienced counselors were involved in the study. Both qualitative and quantitative interviews methods were utilized using structured questionnaires. RESULT-Out of a total of 285 pregnant women who participated in the study, 77(27% had decepted VCT. The acceptance rate was higher among 16-20 years old women (p<0.05) and those from urban résidences (p<0.025). Women who are single, divorced or widowed were also found to have more acceptance of VCT than married women (P<0.001). Among tested women 61(79.2%) received test result. Qualitative analysis showed that I ack of decision-making a utonomy and fear of partner's reactions were identified as major barriers. The reason for low return for test result was the women do not want to know their HIV status; but gave their blood to avoid offending the counselors. CONCLUSION - This study revealed that the uptake of VCT service is very low. Therefore, to increase the utilization of VCT service at ANC setting, problems associated with the service should be addressed. This includes quality of counseling, provision of test result on same day and addressing individual concerns.