Knowledge and Utilization of PMTCT Services among Women accessing Antenatal Care in Private Health Facilities in Abakaliki, Nigeria.

Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV programme provides antiretroviral treatment to HIV-positive pregnant women to reduce the likelihood of transmission to their infants. Despite concerted efforts to scale-up PMTCT services in Nigeria, coverage and uptake of the services by Antenatal Care (ANC) attendees is below the acceptable. Private health facilities provide ANC services to large number of women, but they are sparingly involved in PMTCT capacity enhancement interventions. This study assessed the knowledge and utilization of PMTCT services among women accessing antenatal care in Private Health facilities in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. It was a descriptive cross-sectional study in ANC clinics of the health facilities. Data was collected using interviewer administered questionnaire and analysed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 and test of association was by Chi square at P<0.05 level of significance. Results showed mean age of the respondents was 27± 4.6 years. Majority of the respondents (83.4%) had good knowledge of PMTCT but only 68.4% accessed HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) in the index pregnancy, with fear of stigmatization given as the major reason for not doing HCT. Only 54.5% of sero-positive attendees took anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) during pregnancy though they all used ARVs during labour/ delivery. Utilization of PMTCT services of HIV wassignificantly associated with educational status and occupation. CONCLUSION: There was good knowledge of PMTCT but utilization of the services was suboptimal. Training and mentoring of health care workers in private facilities on HIV testing programmes is important to improve uptake of PMTCT services and allay fears of stigmatization among the pregnant women.