Abstract:
Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV services is very essential in this era of HIV/AIDS. In effect, the Ministry of Health through various organizations and donors have come up with a comprehensive PMTCT service package to combat transmission of HIV to infants and also keep the mothers healthy. However, there are still very high rates of HIV infection among women and young girls that has resulted to high number of deaths among infants. This study therefore was to establish mothers‟ perceptions of selected factors influencing awareness of PMTCT services at the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital, Nakuru. The population of study was 217 pregnant women who attended ANC and PMTCT clinic at the Rift Valley General Hospital. Case study design was used and the data was collected by use of a questionnaire designed by the researcher. The results were analyzed and represented using frequencies, percentages, and Chi-square. Statistical Package for Social Science, (SPSS) was used for data analysis. The response rate of questionnaire was 97.7%. It was established that the majority of the respondents indicated that they were moderately aware of PMTCT Services compared to those who indicated that they were highly aware of the PMTCT Services. It was also established that the majority of the respondents perceived counseling as moderately effective on PMTCT Services as compared to those who perceived it as highly effective. The research recommends a need to scale up awareness campaign of PMTCT Services through public meetings, support groups and mass media to breach the gap between awareness and intake of the services. The HIV Counseling and testing should be normal ANC routine service, to enable pregnant women to make informed decision about their pregnancy and receive appropriate and timely interventions to reduce MTCT of HIV. The findings may be generalized to Rift Valley Province and other similar areas where PMTCT services are provided but with caution.
