Awareness of HIV status and partner disclosure among antenatal clinic attendants: experience from a regional hospital in Ghana

Introduction: A pregnant woman’s knowledge of her human immune deficiency virus (HIV) serostatus and that of her sexual partner and the disclosure of her serostatus to the partner puts her in a better position to make informed choices about her pregnancy, adopt strategies to prevent mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV and reduce sexual transmission of HIV. Some pregnant women however opt out of antenatal HIV testing while others have challenges with partner disclosure.  This study sought to assess the pregnant women’s knowledge of their HIV serostatus and that of their partners, and disclosure to partners about their serostatus.
Methods: An ethically approved cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at the antenatal clinic (ANC) of the Kumasi South Hospital, Ghana from the period 8th March to 5th April, 2016. A structured questionnaire was administered to 407 ANC attendants who were randomly selected to participate in the study. Data entry was in Microsoft Excel and analyzed using R Core Team (2014).  
Results: The study showed that 80.1% (n = 326/407) of the participants knew their HIV serostatus. Of these, 18.1% (n = 59/326) knew prior to the current pregnancy and 81.9% (n = 267/326) were told during the current pregnancy. Among those who knew their HIV serostatus, the majority [83.1%; (n = 271/326)] had disclosed to their partners. Most of the participants [70.76%; (n = 288/407)] had no knowledge of their partners’ status.
Conclusion: Every pregnant woman should know their HIV status, disclose it to their sexual partners and know the status of their sexual partners as this will PMTCT, reduce HIV transmission and acquisition among sero- discordant couples.