Male Partner involvement in Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV and the associated factors in Kisumu East Sub County, Kenya

Abstract

Male partner participation in activities targeting elimination of MTCT of HIV (eMTCT) remains low in Kisumu East Sub-County, despite its critical importance in reducing rates of MTCT. The Sub-County has a high MTCT of HIV currently at 15%. This study sought to identify factors associated with male partner participation in elimination of MTCT activities. A cross sectional study was conducted among women aged ≥18 years who had children aged ≤12 months and were attending child health clinic for immunization services, in four health centers in Kisumu East Sub-County, between February and April, 2015. Systematic random sampling was used to select eligible participants and semi-structured questionnaires used for data collection. Male involvement was defined based on an index score of five key variables of equal weight. A score of 0-2 was classified as low male involvement while a score of 3-5 was high male involvement. Data analyses were done using EPI Info 7. A total of 216 participants were enrolled. Mean age was 26.1 years (±5.5 years), 189 (88%) were married, 119 (55%) had post primary education and 32 (15%) were employed. High male involvement was observed in 22.2% of the women and was associated with a woman having >8 years of formal schooling (AOR 3.9, CI=1.5-10.1), history of prior couple testing (AOR 3.2, CI=1.4-7.2) and male partner having read the mother-child booklet during pregnancy (AOR 2.9, CI=1.3-6.5). Low involvement was associated with male partner unemployment (AOR 0.3, CI=0.1-0.8). Male involvement in MTCT was low and was associated with women‟s level of education and previous male involvement in reproductive health activities. This study recommends targeted strategies to encourage men to participate in activities targeting eMTCT, including using formal invitation cards to improve male partner testing for HIV at the MTCT.