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Objective: This study investigated women living with HIV/AIDS (WLHA)'s practices and decision-making regarding disclosure of HIV status in healthcare settings in Vietnam. Introduction: Disclosure of HIV status in healthcare settings is under-studied. Methods: We conducted in-depth interviews with 30 WLHA in Hanoi, Vietnam. Thematic analysis was conducted to investigate the patterns, considerations, and consequences of HIV disclosure. Results: Most participants chose a selective disclosure strategy based on the type of procedure and healthcare setting. They considered several factors: concerns about stigma/discrimination, risks of confidentiality breach, relevance to healthcare provision, and altruism towards protecting providers and other patients. Selective disclosure or non-disclosure often prevented participants from accessing comprehensive care. Conclusion: The study underscores the need to prepare WLHA to make informed decisions regarding disclosure and provide them with service navigations and support. It also highlights the necessity of reducing stigma and enhancing confidentiality protection to ensure safe disclosure in healthcare settings. Plain Language Summary: Telling Healthcare Providers About HIV Status: How Women with HIV/AIDS in Vietnam Decide and What They Consider This study focuses on how women living with HIV/AIDS in Vietnam decide to share their HIV status with healthcare providers. We interviewed 30 women with HIV/AIDS in Vietnam and found that many choose to reveal their status only in certain situations, depending on the medical procedure and the setting. They weigh various factors before deciding to disclose, including the risk of facing stigma, the need to protect their privacy, how relevant their HIV status is to their other health issues, their wish to protect their healthcare providers and other patients, and how they have been advised by HIV specialists. Unfortunately, choosing not to disclose their status sometimes stops them from getting the full range of medical care they need. The findings stress the importance of helping these women make well-informed choices about disclosing their HIV status. We also need to provide them with additional support and navigational help through healthcare services. Moreover, reducing stigma in healthcare, enhancing providers' ability to gather necessary health information, and ensuring patient privacy are crucial to encouraging more open discussions of HIV status in medical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: COVID-19 preventive measures such as stay at home and isolation leads to violence against women. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is one of the common violence during this pandemic. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of physical, psychological and sexual intimate partner violence among reproductive age women during COVID-19 in Ethiopia. Materials and Methods: Electronic databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar and African journals online and studies available from the occurrence of the pandemic to April 2023 were searched. Two researchers collected the data and independently performed the methodological quality assessment. To pool the collected data for each outcome with 95% confidence interval (CI), DerSimonian-Laird random effects meta-analysis was used. Publication bias was measured by Doi plot LFK index and Egger's test. Stata version 14.0 (StataCorp, College Station, Texas, USA) software was used for statistical analysis. Results: A total of seven studies reported the prevalence of intimate partner violence among women in reproductive age during COVID-19, and the pooled prevalence of physical intimate partner violence was 22% (95% CI [0.12–0.32], I2 = 98.9%, tau2 = 0.0184, p < 0.001). The pooled prevalence of psychological intimate partner violence was 28% (95% CI [0.18–0.37], I2 = 98.1%, tau2 = 0.0142, p < 0.001). The pooled prevalence of sexual intimate partner violence was 23% (95% CI [0.13–0.34], I2 = 99.1%, tau2 = 0.0208, p < 0.001). Conclusions: During COVID-19 reproductive age women in Ethiopia were affected by intimate partner violence. Physical, psychological and sexual intimate partner violence were reported, and their prevalence was high due to the pandemic. Future studies on impact of COVID-19 on IPV among reproductive age women should be conducted in nationwide to make more comprehensive conclusion. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42023417628. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prevention of vertical (mother to child) transmission of HIV is one of the key strategies towards HIV epidemic control. Despite considerable progress over the past decade in Zambia, the country is yet to reach global and national target for elimination of vertical transmission of HIV. Avoidance of unintended pregnancy among women living with HIV is one of the cost-effective interventions in a comprehensive approach to prevent vertical transmission of HIV. Therefore, this study aimed at ascertaining trends in and predictors of unmet need for family planning among women living with HIV in Zambia. Methods: The study employed a repeated cross sectional (RCS) study design, using data from the three (3) most recent consecutive rounds of the Zambia Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS) conducted in 2007, 2013/2014 and 2018. The study used data from a total of 27,153 women aged 15–49 years over the three survey periods among whom 4,113 had an HIV positive result following a rigorous HIV testing algorithm of the demographic and health surveys, and these constituted our sample size of women living with HIV. We used descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses to respectively ascertain trends in and predictors of unmet need for family planning among women living with HIV. Results: Over the three survey points, unmet need for family planning among women living with HIV has largely remained unchanged from 20.8% in 2007 to 20.5% in 2013/14 and 21.1% in 2018 DHS. Residence, age of women, household wealth, woman's parity, employment, and age of spouse emerged as significant predictors of unmet need for family planning among women living with HIV in Zambia. Conclusion: Preventing HIV infection in a child preserves life, contributes to improving quality of life from its early stages and averts lifetime costs of HIV treatment and associated healthcare costs. There is need to consider optimization of interventions to prevent vertical transmission of HIV including shaping programming regarding preventing unintended pregnancies among women living with HIV. Among other aspects, policy and practice need to strengthen SRH/HIV integration and better target rural residents, younger women, those with high parity and consider positive male engagement to reduce unmet need for family planning among women living with HIV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Poor food handling practices contribute to food contamination, leading to food‐borne illnesses and childhood diarrhea in developing countries like Ethiopia. This study examines hygienic complementary food feeding practices and associated characteristics among women with children ages 6−24 months in the Dedo District. Method: A community‐oriented cross‐sectional study design was used in a multistage sampling strategy to gather information from 501 mothers of children between May 25 and July 10, 2022. There were absolute and relative frequencies assigned to each variable. Multiple logistic models have been used for factors that were 20% significant in univariate analysis. Odds ratios with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were produced to identify the important predictors. Results: This study showed that mothers with a diploma (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 11.2; CI: 5.51−22.8), urban residency (AOR = 6.35; CI: 3.57−11.3), a positive attitude toward hygienic complementary food feeding (AOR = 2.23; CI: 1.19−4.20), good knowledge of complementary food feeding practices (AOR = 3.95; CI: 2.39−6.55), access to a hand washing facility close to the latrine (AOR = 2.60; CI: 1.55−4.36), and access to water close to their home (AOR = 2.42; CI: 1.27−4.59) were highly associated with good hygiene practices of mothers. Conclusion: This study shows that mothers of children aged between 6 and 24 months have a very low overall prevalence of good hygienic complementary feeding practices. The concerned parties should therefore establish a healthcare educational program for mothers that emphasizes the importance of hand washing and informs them about the dangers of improper complementary feeding practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: due to increasing coverage of antiretroviral therapy (ART), more women living with HIV have improved health condition which also increases their chances of getting pregnant. However, the knowledge about pregnancy among women receiving ART in resource-constrained settings, like Ethiopia, is limited. The aim was to assess factors associated with pregnancy among women living with HIV in Ethiopia. Methods: a retrospective cohort study from 2005 through 2013 including a total of 809 women aged 15-49 years on ART was used. The study was conducted in eight hospitals and health centers in two regions of Ethiopia. The data was collected between March and June of 2014 from patients' pre-ART and ART registers by trained nurses, assisted by data entry clerks and supervised by senior physicians. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis were used to examine the probability of becoming pregnant. Factors associated with pregnancy were presented with hazard ratios with 95% Confidence Interval (CI). Results: a total of 809 women were included in this analysis, their median age was 27 years, 90% were urban residents and 40.6% were married. Four hundred eighty three (60.6%) were in WHO stage III at initiation of ART. The median CD4 count was 162.5 cell/µl at initiation of ART. Eighty-one women became pregnant during 3069 person-years of observation. The overall incidence of pregnancy was 26.4 pregnancies per 1000 person-years of observation. Women under the age of 24, those in less advanced disease stage, women with no education and those with college education had higher rates of pregnancy. Conclusion: the results highlight that younger women, those in less advanced disease stage, either uneducated or highly educated ones have higher probability of becoming pregnant during HIV treatment. This suggests the need for integrating reproductive health services into HIV care services to meet the needs of women on ART. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prevention of unplanned pregnancy among women infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is critical for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. Of the prevention strategies, deployment of modern contraceptives is principal one. However, there were limited facts on utilization of modern contraceptives and associated factors among HIV infected women, in particular of resource-limited settings in Ethiopia. Hence, we aimed to quantify the proportion of modern contraceptive utilization and the possible related factors among women infected HIV.Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted on randomly selected 632 women infected with HIV from 05 February to 25 March 2018. Data on their treatment, socio-economic, and demographic background were collected through a structured interviewer administered questionnaire. Binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify the associated factors of modern contraceptive use among women infected with HIV.Result: We found 61.4% (95% CI, 57.6-65.2) were using modern contraceptives. Greater than four family size (AOR:2.17; 95%CI: 1.31-3.59), family planning counseling service (AOR: 2.37; 95% CI: 1.44-3.91), discussing contraceptive issues with sexual partner (AOR: 1.76; 95% CI: 1.12-2.77), history of giving birth (s) (AOR:2.21; 95%CI:1.20-4.05) and World Health Organization (WHO) clinical stage III or IV (AOR: 3.59; 95%CI: 1.37, 9.44) were positively associated with modern contraceptives use, whereas, older age (AOR: 0.45; 95% CI: 0.24-0.81) and being widowed (AOR: 0.34; 95% CI: 0.14-0.83), abridged the chances of modern contraceptives use.Conclusion: The prevalence of modern contraceptive use among women infected with HIV is low. Higher family size, counseling on contraceptives, discussing contraceptives issues with partner, history of giving births and WHO clinical stage III/IV were positively related with contraceptives use, whereas, older age and being widowed abridged the chances of contraceptives use among HIV infected women. Therefore, our findings support calls for the district health office and the antiretroviral treatment clinics of the resource-limited settings to work more on family planning counseling services and promoting more dialogues with sexual partners on modern contraceptives use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: "Fertility desire" is the intention of people to have more children despite being diagnosed with HIV, whereas intentions denote a commitment to implement that desire. Despite the overwhelming effects of HIV on a fetus, there is a desire for fertility among people positive for the virus/disease worldwide.  Therefore, this study aimed to assess fertility desires and factors associated with sexually active HIV positive reproductive-age women attending ART clinics at Amhara region referral hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted on reproductive-age women attending the clinics at the hospitals. A total of 427 eligible women were systematically included in the study. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data via interviewer-administered techniques. EpiInfo7 and STATA 14 software was used for data entry and analysis, respectively. The logistic regression analysis method was used to identify factors associated with fertility desire. Factors that had p-values of ≤0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: The findings indicated that 40.3% (95% CI; 35.7%, 45.0%) of the participants reported they had the desire to have children in the future. Variables such as women in the age group of 25–34 years (AOR= 2.80, 95% CI; 1.68, 4.68), participating with their sexual partner (AOR=3.52, 95% CI; 1.36, 9.13) and married women (AOR=2.32, 95% CI; 1.05, 5.10) had a positive association with the outcome variable, whereas having one or more live children (AOR=0.19, 95% CI; 0.09, 0.39) and having no formal education (AOR= 0.51, 95% CI; 0.29, 0.89) had a negative association with fertility desire. Conclusion: The proportion of sexually active HIV-positive women with desire for children was high among women visiting referral hospitals. Therefore, programmers and policymakers need to expand new PMTCT services throughout the region and consider the effects of these factors on HIV-positive women, as they develop interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Women living with HIV continues to encounter unintended pregnancies with a concomitant risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection. Preventing unintended pregnancy among HIV-infected women is one of the strategies in the prevention of new HIV infections among children. The aim of this analysis was to assess the practice of family planning (FP) among HIV-infected women and the influence of women's awareness of HIV positive status in the practice of FP. Methods: The analysis was made in the Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data among 489 non-pregnant, sexually active, fecund women living with HIV. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed using SPSS software to identify the factors associated with FP use. Adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with 95 % confidence intervals were computed to assess the association of different factors with the practice of family planning. Result: Of the 489 confirmed HIV positive women, 184 (37.6 %) reported that they knew that they were HIV positive. The number of women who reported that they were currently using FP method(s) were 251 (51.2 %). The number of women who reported unmet need for FP method(s) were 107 (21.9 %). In the multiple logistic regression analysis, women's knowledge of HIV positive status [AOR: 2.32(1.54, 3.50)], secondary and above education [AOR: 2.36(1.16, 4.78)], presence of 3-4 alive children [AOR: 2.60(1.08, 6.28)] and more than 4 alive children [AOR: 3.03(1.18, 7.82)] were significantly associated with current use of FP. Conclusion: Women's knowledge of their HIV-positive status was found to be a significant predictor of their FP practice. Health managers and clinicians need to improve HIV counselling and testing coverage among women of child-bearing age and address the FP needs of HIV-infected women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: HIV remained the major cause of death in women of reproductive age worldwide. There is limited evidence regarding the fertility desire of HIV positive women receiving HIV care in the study area. Therefore, facility based cross-sectional study was conducted from March to April 2017 to assess fertility desire of HIV positive women and associated factors among mothers in receiving HIV care Jimma town, Southwest Ethiopia. Simple random sampling technique was taken to draw the sample after stratification. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21 and statistical significance was declared at P value less than 0.05. Results: This finding showed that, 175 (46.8%) of the Antiretroviral therapy users had fertility desire with those significantly associated factors; women in the age 18–29 years [AOR = 4.05, 95% CI 1.24–13.33], being married [AOR = 0.32, 95% CI (0.13–0.78)], having diploma educational level [AOR = 5.34, 95% CI 1.10, 15.60], having only boys or girls children [AOR = 2.79, 95% CI (1.24–6.25)], having 18–36$ monthly income [AOR = 1.27, 95% CI (1.56–10.67)], Partner's HIV status [AOR = 3.56, 95% CI (3.02–9.33)] and non use of contraceptives [AOR = 2.57, 95% CI (1.08–6.13)]. Fertility desire in the study area was high. Strengthening PMTCT service should consider fertility desire of mothers living with HIV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Dual contraceptive is the use of male condom besides any modern contraceptive. It reduces parent to child transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections between partners. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of dual contraceptive use among HIV positive women at University of Gondar Hospital, North West Ethiopia. Result: The prevalence of dual contraceptive use was found to be 13.2% (95% CI 10.5, 16.0). Partner involvement in post-test counseling [AOR = 3.11 (95% CI = 1.74, 5.57)], open partner discussion on using dual contraceptive [AOR = 7.84, 95% CI (4.26, 14.42)], provision of counseling about dual contraception [AOR = 6.56, 95% CI (3.54, 12.18)], age 18–24 years [AOR = 4.79, 95% CI (1.72, 13.32)], age 25–34 years [AOR = 1.97, 95% CI (1.01, 3.85)] and being a housewife [AOR = 4.38, 95% CI (1.89, 10.16)] were significant factors associated with dual contraceptive use. The prevalence of dual contraceptive use was low. This shows, there is a need to in promote partner involvement in HIV testing and counseling by offering counseling session in a couple-basis. It is also necessary for programmers to routinely focus on provision of dual contraception for HIV-infected women and Integration of family planning into HIV care follow-up clinic need to be strengthened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]