Abstract
Objectives: The study aimed to assess the quality and implementation barriers of prevention mother-to-child transmission of HIV(PMTCT) program in public health institutions of Tigray Region, Ethiopia.
Methods: A health institution based quantitative and qualitative cross-sectional study was conducted among 845 pregnant women and 72 healthcare providers, from March to June 2012. The sample size was divided among twelve health facilities proportional to the total number of pregnant mothers in the facilities and selected by systematic sampling technique. Quantitative data were collected by trained data collectors through face-to-face interview of pregnant mothers using pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire. In-depth interviews with healthcare providers and 11 focus group discussions of 108 clients were used to collect qualitative data. Logistic regression test was employed to assess determinants of client satisfaction.
Results: 702 (83.1%) of the pregnant women were tested for HIV after pre-counseling; 1.6% of which were positive. Average client’s waiting and counseling time were found to be 26.4 minutes and 10.7 minutes, respectively. 48% of PMTCT service recipient mothers reported being satisfied with the service. The results of the qualitative study indicated that major barriers for PMTCT implementation were unfavorable attitude toward PMTCT, distance of health facilities, loss to follow up and non-adherence. Repeatedly mentioned health professionals related barriers were lack of on job training to update themselves and absence of incentive for the additional workload. After adjusting for independent variables, waiting time of longer than 15 minutes (AOR 2.32, 95%CI 1.53-4.78) was found to be associated with lesser clients’ satisfaction.
Conclusions: Overall quality of PMTCT service was found to be low in terms of waiting time length, duration of stay with healthcare providers and clients’ satisfaction. Giving trainings and incentivizing healthcare providers, educating clients and improving the accessibility of service would help to minimize PMTCT implementation barriers thereby contributing to better service quality.
Methods: A health institution based quantitative and qualitative cross-sectional study was conducted among 845 pregnant women and 72 healthcare providers, from March to June 2012. The sample size was divided among twelve health facilities proportional to the total number of pregnant mothers in the facilities and selected by systematic sampling technique. Quantitative data were collected by trained data collectors through face-to-face interview of pregnant mothers using pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire. In-depth interviews with healthcare providers and 11 focus group discussions of 108 clients were used to collect qualitative data. Logistic regression test was employed to assess determinants of client satisfaction.
Results: 702 (83.1%) of the pregnant women were tested for HIV after pre-counseling; 1.6% of which were positive. Average client’s waiting and counseling time were found to be 26.4 minutes and 10.7 minutes, respectively. 48% of PMTCT service recipient mothers reported being satisfied with the service. The results of the qualitative study indicated that major barriers for PMTCT implementation were unfavorable attitude toward PMTCT, distance of health facilities, loss to follow up and non-adherence. Repeatedly mentioned health professionals related barriers were lack of on job training to update themselves and absence of incentive for the additional workload. After adjusting for independent variables, waiting time of longer than 15 minutes (AOR 2.32, 95%CI 1.53-4.78) was found to be associated with lesser clients’ satisfaction.
Conclusions: Overall quality of PMTCT service was found to be low in terms of waiting time length, duration of stay with healthcare providers and clients’ satisfaction. Giving trainings and incentivizing healthcare providers, educating clients and improving the accessibility of service would help to minimize PMTCT implementation barriers thereby contributing to better service quality.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | A275-A276 |
| Number of pages | 2 |
| Journal | Value in Health |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - May 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |