Knowledge and Use of Antiretroviral Drugs in Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS Amongst HIV Infected And Uninfected Patients in Okwe General Hospital, Asaba: A Case-Contro

Background: Perinatal transmission of HIV/AIDS also known as Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS is the most prevalent source of pediatric HIV infection.  Objective: Therefore, this case-control study was designed to investigate the knowledge and use of antiretroviral drugs in prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS amongst HIV infected and uninfected patients.  Settings: The study was carried out in Okwe General Hospital in Asaba. 

Methods: A case-control study was conducted among 50 HIV infected and 46 HIV uninfected patients; using simple random and purposive sampling techniques. A validated pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect the data which were analysed with SPSS version 15.0. 

Results: The mean age of the cases was 29.67±7.90 years, while that of the control was 30.89±8.30 years. The cases had a better knowledge of HIV/AIDS 43(86.0%) as compared to the control 30 (65.20%). Furthermore, most of the cases 48 (96.0%) had seen an antiretroviral drug and had knowledge of zidovudine as an example of ARD 49 (98.0%) as compared to some of the control who have not seen an ARD 42 (91.30%) and concurred that paracetamol is a type of ARD 37 (80.40%). In addition, some of the cases could not identify the actual dosage for zidovudine 24 (48.0%) and delavirdine 28 (56.0%).  Conclusion: It is therefore recommended that, more and regular health education should be carried out among HIV infected patients to sustain the gains of the antiretroviral regimen.

Keywords: Knowledge of HIV/AIDS, Knowledge of ARDs, Cases and Control, PMTCT