Male Partner Support and Associated Factor on PMTCT Option B+ among HIV Positive Pregnant and Lactating Mothers in South Wollo Zone, North East Ethiopia

Option B+ is an approach in prevention of mother to child transmission of human immune virus (HIV) which means “test and treat” irrespective of CD4 count or clinical stage. In this approach world health organization recommended male partner involvement is vital for accomplishment of the goal of having HIV free children. Now a days there is no study done on male partner involvement in option B+ Prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV in Ethiopia in general and also in our study area of south wollo zone in particular. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess male partner support and associated factor on option B+ prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV among HIV sero positive pregnant and lactating mothers in south wollo zone, north east Ethiopia, 2016. Method: An institution based cross sectional study design was employed. A total of 172 HIV positive pregnant & lactating mothers were involved in the study. Simple random sampling technique was utilized to recruit the study participants. Data was collected by using interviewer administer standared structured questionare. The data were entered in to EpiData version 3.1 and then exported to statistical package for social science (SPSS) window version 21 for statistical analysis. Entered data were explored for errors & missing values and cleaned before analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed to identify factors associated with male partner involvement in prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS. P-value less than 0.05 with 95% confidence interval were used to declare the association between dependent and independent variables. Result: A total of 172 HIV positive pregnant and breast feeding mothers were involved in this study. One hundred forty six (88%) of mothers report good male partner support while the rest 20 (12%) of mothers didn’t had. Primi gravida (pregnant for the first time) had was statistically significant association with male partner involvement in prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS (AOR 0.19, 95% CI (0.04-0.94). Conclusion: Being HIV positive pregnant and breast feeding mothers who were pregnant for the first time (primigavida) had stastically significant association with male partner support in option B+ prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV care. Therefore, focusing on those primigravida mothers is essential to improve the support of male sexual partner on prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV.