Abstract

Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a pandemic that the world is battling to tackle. One major way to achieve this is by preventing mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy. The level of awareness and attitude of pregnant women toward this effort is key in achieving the desired success. This study examined the knowledge and attitude of pregnant women towards the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of the disease at Central Hospital, Auchi, Edo State, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design and respondents comprising of pregnant women attending the hospital. It made use of a self-designed questionnaire with closed-ended questions to collect data used for analysis in the study. Results show that majority of the respondents have heard about HIV/AIDS (85.5%) and knew it to be a sexually transmitted disease (77%). Furthermore, 80% of the women had tested for HIV and 87% were aware that a mother can transmit HIV to her child. On the attitude of the women, 72.5% were of the opinion that the unborn child of an HIV/AIDS mother can be prevented from contracting the disease, while 80.5% would advise HIV/AIDS infected woman not to get pregnant. The level of awareness is high, but more efforts are needed to close the gaps in some specific areas, such as improving the attitude of pregnant women towards prevention of mother-to-child transmission and educational intervention campaigns. Health education/ counselling component of the PMTCT programme should be strengthened to close the relevant knowledge gaps.