Jornal de Cuidados com a Saúde da Mulher
Acesso livre

Abstrato

Factors Influencing the Uptake of HIV Testing During Antenatal Care in Rural Uganda

Zubia Mumtaz, Neelam Merchant and Adrienne Levay

Despite critics of the ‘opt-out’ policy surrounding HIV testing during antenatal care visits in Uganda suggesting that women may be deterred from seeking antenatal care at facilities with on-site testing, empirical evidence suggests the acceptability of HIV testing during antenatal care has been significantly increasing over the last decade. Furthermore, there is a disconnect between high rates of antenatal care and low rates of facility births implying that there are other reasons women use antenatal care besides to prepare for a facility delivery. The aim of this paper is to investigate the role HIV testing has in the high rates of antenatal care uptake in Uganda. A focused ethnographic study was undertaken in two areas of Kabarole district between the period of September 2009 and January 2010. Data collection consisted of in-depth interviews, focus groups and participant observation.