Publications

The aim of this study was to identify the factors linked to HIV serostatus and the risksof HIV positivity among children under two years old exposed to HIV at MityanaGeneral Hospital in Mityana district, Uganda. This was a cross-sectional descriptivesurvey utilizing quantitative data from administered questionnaires and routineservice data obtained from the mother’s HIV care card and the exposed infant clinicalchart. Data analysis was performed using Epi Info version 7.2.4 for entry and Stataversion 16 for analysis. Descriptive statistics characterized both infant and mothertraits. Logistic regression was employed to determine the factors associated with HIVserostatus. Among the 102 mother–infant pairs recruited, most mothers were between25–34 years old (53/102, 52.0%), married (67/102, 65.7%), had attained at least primaryeducation (49/102, 48.1%), and were involved in farming for their livelihood (89/102,87.3%). The HIV prevalence among the infants stood at 8.8%. In the bivariate analysis,factors such as place of delivery (OR = 4.6, 95% CI: 1.340-9.413, p = 0.003), normaldelivery (OR = 4.7, 95% CI:0.682-5.522, p= <0.001), poor adherence to ART (OR=3.11,95% CI: 0.983-8.344, p=0.026), and the mothers’ level of education (OR=6.2, 95% CI:3.00-14.476, p= <0.001) were associated with HIV-positive outcomes in infants belowtwo years old. This study underscores that 8.8% of children under 2 years attendingMityana General Hospital are HIV-infected due to exposure from their mothers. Factorscontributing to this burden include maternal non-adherence to ART, delivery infacilities lacking PMTCT protocols, maternal education levels, and the absence ofprophylaxis administration to exposed infants, collectively propagating HIVtransmission among these infants.Keywords: Pediatric HIV, Mother-to-child transmission, HIV serostatus, Infants below2 years.