Lack of Knowledge of Mother-to-Child Transmission in Kenya Among Women Ages 15-49

Purpose: The epidemic of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV/AIDS in resource-poor countries is dramatic; it is responsible for nearly 90% of childhood infections. The primary purpose of analysis was to understand the distribution of factors and their association with lack of knowledge of MTCT in Kenya. In parallel, another aim was to identify the relationship between media, particularly frequency of radio exposure, and lack of knowledge.Methods: This study used the 2003 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) collected for 8,195 women, ages 15-49. Descriptive analysis, univariate analysis, and logistic regression were completed on SPSS 14 software.Results: In the sample, 1151 women (14.0%) lacked the knowledge of transmission. Univariate analysis suggested significant crude association for region (except Nairobi and Eastern), residence, education, religion, ethnicity, literacy, parity, prenatal care from someone, current work status, SES, and frequency of listening to the radio. In the logistic regression model after adjusting for the confounding variables, not listening to the radio at all had a significant association with lack of knowledge of MTCT (adjusted POR 2.38; 95% CI 2.00-2.82), while listening to radio less than once a week yielded no significant association.Conclusions: The results elucidate why Kenyan women do not know about MTCT and particularly the role of radio use as means of acquiring this information. MTCT prevention programs can use this information to accordingly tailor the programs to the needs in the community.