Does pregnant mother are aware about PMTCT of HIV? What is their attitude and do they practice the measures on PMTCT of HIV?: A narrative review

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a dreadful disease and it is more prevalent in the world ^[1]. In these circumstances people must have adequate knowledge on HIV/AIDS and its prevention. On account of that, this paper aims to assess the awareness, attitude and practices of pregnant women on HIV/AIDS, its transmission and prevention.

A computerized search for published literature and journal articles was undertaken through Pub Med and EBSCO databases. Typical search strategies have used for each data bases. During initial search 12445 articles were retrieved and after screening 20 articles were selected for full text assessment and finally 8 articles were included in the study.

Out of 8 literatures, 7 research studies concluding that there is a low level of awareness of HIV/AIDS, Mother to Child Transmission(MTCT) and its prevention and 1 study suggests that there is adequate knowledge among the pregnant women regarding HIV/AIDS, mother to child transmission and its prevention.

Various review of research studies published from 2017 to 2017 concluded that the level of awareness regarding Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission(PMTCT) of HIV among the pregnant women as well as the adolescents has been revealed in all the studies, whereas the attitude and practice on HIV/AIDS and its prevention has been concluded in two studies respectively.

Overall analysed data from the eight studies suggests the gap between awareness and practice. This gap can be eliminated when women lead a safe sexual life.

Effective use of Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV services can be enhanced by changing the attitude towards HIV/AIDS and improving the awareness on HIV/AIDS and its prevention.