Assessment Of HIV And Malaria Infections And Perception Among Antenatal Women In Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Four hundred pregnant women selected from four Local Government Areas (LGAs) representing urban (Abeokuta South LGA and Abeokuta North LGA) and semi-urban (Obafemi/Owode LGA and Odeda LGA) of Ogun State, were enrolled for study on the evaluation of HIV and malaria infections and perception among antenatal women. Malaria parasite test using Giemsa staining techniques for detection of Plasmodium falciparum was employed, while the one-step anti-HIV 1 and 2 Pock Test kit was also adopted for the determination of HIV status/prevalence. Structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on the knowledge and perception of the infections among the women under study. The overall malaria prevalence across the study area was 53.5% (Abeokuta South (49%), Abeokuta North (52%), Obafemi/Owode (50%) and Odeda (63%). Abeokuta South had mean parasitaemia intensity for P. falciparum of 2.5 parasites per microlitre blood of infected respondents; others are Abeokuta North (2.0), Obafemi/Owode (1.6) and Odeda (2.1). The overall mean parasite density per infected respondent was 2.0. The HIV prevalence from the study was 3.5% (Abeokuta South (2%), Abeokuta North (5%) Obafemi/Owode (5%) and Odeda (2%)). Demographic data showed that the women were of different age groups, educational qualifications and gravid status. Malaria parasite was more prevalent among the age group 21-25yrs (26%), while HIV prevalence was distributed across the age groups. Women with secondary school education had higher prevalence of malaria and HIV when compared with the other educational levels. On the knowledge and perception of the infections, 63% and 43.8% of the women attribute malaria and HIV infections to mosquito bites and sexual intercourse respectively. Antenatal clinic attendance among respondents was high with 79% attending regularly. In the treatment of malaria, chloroquine was considered as the drug of choice. Interaction with HIV positive women showed that 70.6% of them are on antiretroviral drugs (ARV) with 45% of respondents claiming that ...