Knowledge, Perception, and Attitudes of Clients and Health Service Providers in Family Planning and HIV Clinics in Healthcare Facilities in Abuja, Nigeria

International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VI, Issue VIII, August 2019 | ISSN 2321–2705

Knowledge, Perception, and Attitudes of Clients and Health Service Providers in Family Planning and HIV Clinics in Healthcare Facilities in Abuja, Nigeria

Abiola Clementina Ajibola¹, Sanni Olaniyi Felix², Tolulope Victor Ajibola³, Ibidun Jolaoso¹, Oluwakemi Akagwu¹, Akinwale Coker⁴

 ¹Department of Clinical Services, Centre for Integrated Health Program, Abuja, Nigeria
²Department of West African Breast Cancer Study, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria
³Department of Civil Engineering, Balcon Associates Limited, Nigeria
⁴Department of Biomedical and Environmental Health, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract: – Family planning (FP) use among women living with HIV has a great impact on preventing unintended pregnancy and preventing new HIV infection in children. Studies have documented the influence of the knowledge of health integrated services on clients’ satisfaction, the uptake of HIV test services (HTS) and FP services. This study aimed at assessing the knowledge, perception, and attitudes of clients and health service providers in FP and HIV clinics in healthcare facilities in Abuja, Nigeria.This study was conducted in both FP and HIV clinics in seven general hospitals in Abuja, Nigeria. Both HIV infected and non-infected non-pregnant women of childbearing age (15-49), either receiving HIV care and treatment or FP services the General Hospitals were included. The healthcare service providers were also interviewed. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and were analysed using SPSS version 25.0.The most common respondent’s age group was 20 – 29 (53.0%) and the majority were married (88.2%), had at least secondary education, (38.0%) and were self-employed (57.5%).More than four of every five (86.1%) of the women had good knowledge of HIV and 73.2% had good knowledge of FP. One hundred and seventy-seven (61.7%) of the respondents have had a discussion on FP with their service providers but the majority did not know the stage at which FP should be discussed with PLWHA. Only 34.8% of the women have ever used any form of FP while 25.1% were using FP method at the time of interview. The most used form of FP was ‘implants’ 30.0% and injection 29.0% while only 10% used condoms. Sixty percent (60%) of the service providers had knowledge of Integrating HIV counselling and testing (HCT) into FP services and 80% had the knowledge of Integrating FP/SRH into services to prevent mother-child-transmission of HIV while none (0.0%) had the knowledge of both Integrating FP/SRH into HIV counselling and testing and Integrating FP/SRH into HIV treatment, care, and support programs. The majority already had previous training on FP procedures (80.0%) and HIV services (100.0%) with the most training being PMTCT and all needed more training on new trends and ART drugs.Only one integrated model was averagely known by the HIV service providers. This study recorded a very low uptake of FP among HIV infected women of reproductive age in Abuja. This low uptake may be attributed to the poor knowledge of FP-HIV services integration among both the clients and the healthcare providers. Therefore, we advocate for regular training of both the clients and the service providers on the benefits of FP-HIV service integration. Also, the necessary tools should be made available in healthcare facilities in order to achieve a successful implementation of the program in Nigeria.

Keywords: Family planning, Service integration, HIV, Counselling

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