Mother to Child Transmission of HIV and Associated Factors Among HIV Exposed Infants at Public Health Facilities, Dessie Town, Ethiopia

Yibeltal Asmamaw Yitayew,1 Daniel Mengistu Bekele,2 Birhanu Wondimeneh Demissie,3 Zeleke Argaw Menji2 1Department of Nursing, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia; 2School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Health Science, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 3Department of Nursing, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wolaita Sodo University, Sodo, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Birhanu Wondimeneh DemissieDepartment of Nursing, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wolaita Sodo University, Sodo, EthiopiaEmail birhanuwondimeneh@gmail.comBackground: Vertical transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the primary route of infection among children. Ethiopia is among the top ten countries in the world with the highest burden of HIV infections among children. Therefore we aimed to assess mother to child transmission (MTCT) of HIV and associated factors among HIV exposed infants (HEIs).Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using retrospective data collected from HEIs paired with their mothers who had received the services in prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) programs from January 2014 to December 2017 in public health facilities in Dessie town. Data of a total of 313 HEIs paired with their mothers were obtained by using semi-structured data extraction proforma from their medical records. The data were processed in Epi-info version 7.1.2.0 and analyzed using SPSS version 22. Crude and adjusted odds ratios with their 95% confidence intervals and p-value were used to identify significant factors.Results: The prevalence of HIV among exposed infants was 3.8%. Absence of maternal antenatal care visit (AOR = 4.6, 95% CI: 1.17–17.99), home delivery (AOR = 4.2, 95% CI: 1.04 −16.76), absence of antiretroviral intervention to the mother (AOR= 5.7, 95% CI: 1.10–29.36), and failure to initiate nevirapine prophylaxis for the infant (AOR = 5.3, 95% CI: 1.11 −25