Abstract: Background: Knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAPs) regarding HIV/AIDS is one of the corner stones in the fight against the disease. This study was conducted to determine whether antenatal mothers in Jaipur Rajasthan have adequate knowledge and awareness, attitude, and preventive practices about HIV infection. Pregnant women possess higher risk. Thus, evaluating their KAPs will help in designing appropriate prevention strategies (PPTCT). This study was aimed at assessing the KAPs of women attending antenatal clinic at JNU Medical College and Hospital, Jaipur.
Methods: Cross-sectional study using structured questionnaire. 235 Antenatal mothers attending the outpatient department of JNU Hospital, Jaipur were taken for the study. Questionnaire form filled by pregnant women during their first antenatal visit was the source of data for this study. Systematic sampling technique was used where every pregnant women registering for ANC visit were voluntarily recruited for the study.
Results: Highest (43.4%) response was from the age group 20-24 years, Hindu population constituted the major part of the study population i.e. 70.2%, Women with parity 2 constituted major part of study population 31.5%, 77.4% of the antenatal women have heard about HIV. Only 21.8% of the women knew about drug to prevent mother to child transmission.
Regarding the measures to reduce the transmission 53.5% of respondents were taking ART, 18.6% exclusive breast feeding while 11.6% had no knowledge concerning the measures.
Conclusions: The current study revealed high levels of knowledge, positive attitude, and preventive practices regarding HIV; however, this population lacked knowledge about MTCT and its prevention
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