Mkwanazi, NB;
Patel, D;
Newell, ML;
Rollins, NC;
Coutsoudis, A;
Coovadia, HM;
Bland, RM;
(2008)
Rapid Testing May Not Improve Uptake of HIV Testing and Same Day Results in a Rural South African Community: A Cohort Study of 12,000 Women.
PLOS ONE
, 3
(10)
, Article e3501. 10.1371/journal.pone.0003501.
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Abstract
Background: Rapid testing of pregnant women aims to increase uptake of HIV testing and results and thus optimize care. We report on the acceptability of HIV counselling and testing, and uptake of results, before and after the introduction of rapid testing in this area.Methods and Principal Findings: HIV counsellors offered counselling and testing to women attending 8 antenatal clinics, prior to enrolment into a study examining infant feeding and postnatal HIV transmission. From August 2001 to April 2003, blood was sent for HIV ELISA testing in line with the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme in the district. From May 2003 to September 2004 women were offered a rapid HIV test as part of the PMTCT programme, but also continued to have ELISA testing for study purposes. Of 12,323 women counselled, 5,879 attended clinic prior to May 2003, and 6,444 after May 2003 when rapid testing was introduced; of whom 4,324 (74.6%) and 4,810 (74.6%) agreed to have an HIV test respectively. Of the 4,810 women who had a rapid HIV test, only 166 (3.4%) requested to receive their results on the same day as testing, the remainder opted to return for results at a later appointment. Women with secondary school education were less likely to agree to testing than those with no education (AOR 0.648, p < 0.001), as were women aged 2135 (AOR 0.762, p < 0.001) and > 35 years (AOR 0.756, p < 0.01) compared to those < 20 years.Conclusions: Contrary to other reports, few women who had rapid tests accepted their HIV results the same day. Finding strategies to increase the proportion of pregnant women knowing their HIV results is critical so that appropriate care can be given.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Rapid Testing May Not Improve Uptake of HIV Testing and Same Day Results in a Rural South African Community: A Cohort Study of 12,000 Women |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0003501 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0003501 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2008 Mkwanazi et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This study was supported by grants from Wellcome Trust, UK (#063009/Z/00/2 and #050534). |
| Keywords: | TO-CHILD TRANSMISSION, PREVENTION, ACCEPTABILITY, INTRAPARTUM, ZIDOVUDINE, NEVIRAPINE, UGANDA, TRIAL |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1313086 |
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