Knowledge and practice of the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV guidelines amongst doctors and nurses at Odi Hospital, Tshwane District

Abstract

Background: Almost 60 million people are infected with and 25 million people have already died from HIV/AIDS. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected, with 67% of all people living with HIV and 91% of all new infections amongst children and 14 million children orphaned by HIV-related deaths. HIV can be transmitted from a pregnant mother to her child during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding. In South Africa (SA) the mother-to-child HIV transmission (MTCT) rate is under 4% at 4 to 8 weeks after birth since implementation of the most recent national prevention of MTCT (PMTCT) programme.Aim: This study sought to investigate the level of knowledge of nurses and doctors working at Odi Hospital in Tshwane, and whether they were putting the current PMTCT programme into practice.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was undertaken using self-administered questionnaires developed from the current PMTCT guidelines.Results: Of the 102 participants, 12 (12%) were doctors and 90 (88%) nurses, of whom 9 (9%) were male and 93 (91%) female. Mean knowledge percentage was 60.8% and mean practice percentage was 77%. Regarding knowledge, the question on HIV counselling and testing scored an average 93.1%, while that on doses of drugs used in the PMTCT guidelines scored 17.7%. For practice questions scores ranged from 71% to 82%.Conclusion: Nurses and doctors working at Odi Hospital knew that HIV counselling and testing is important and must be done for all mothers; however, they were unsure of the dosages of drugs used for PMTCT. More than two-thirds of the doctors and nurses reported practising the PMTCT guidelines, but as their knowledge was inadequate their practice may not be appropriate.