HIV Prevalence and Antenatal Care Attendance among Pregnant Women in a Large Home-Based HIV Counseling and Testing Program in Western Kenya

Objective To describe the uptake of and factors associated with HIV prevalence among pregnant women in a large-scale home-based HIV counseling and testing (HBCT) program in western Kenya. Methods In 2007, the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare Program (AMPATH) initiated HBCT to all individuals aged 13 years and high-risk children <13 years. Included in this analysis were females aged 13'50 years, from 6 catchment areas (11/08-01/12). We used descriptive statistics and logistic regression to describe factors associated with HIV prevalence. Results There were 119,678 women eligible for analysis; median age 25 (interquartile range, IQR: 18'34) years. Of these, 7,396 (6.2%) were pregnant at the time of HBCT; 4,599 (62%) had ever previously tested for HIV and 2,995 (40.5%) had not yet attended ANC for their current pregnancy. Testing uptake among pregnant women was high (97%). HBCT newly identified 241 (3.3%) pregnant HIV-positive women and overall HIV prevalence among all pregnant women was 6.9%. HIV prevalence among those who had attended ANC in this pregnancy was 5.4% compared to 9.0% among those who had not. Pregnant women were more likely to newly test HIV-positive in HBCT if they had not attended ANC in the current pregnancy (AOR: 6.85, 95% CI: 4.49'10.44). Conclusions Pregnant women who had never attended ANC were about 6 times more likely to newly test HIV-positive compared to those who had attended ANC, suggesting that the cascade of services for prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission should optimally begin at the home and village level if elimination of perinatal HIV transmission is to be achieved.