Attitude of pregnant women attending prenatal clinics towards voluntary counseling and HIV testing: a case of Kinondoni municipal Health centers, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

This study aimed at exploring the pregnant women attending prenantal clinics towards Voluntary Counseling and HIV Testing (VCT) at Kinondoni health centers in Tanzania where Magomeni, Sinza and University of Dar es Salaam health centers were studied. The study was guide by the following objectives: to find out the individual demographic factors that affect pregnant women’s attitude toward voluntary and HIV testing, to identify the perception of pregnant women a about VCT services being provided to find out how the basic knowledge pregnant women have about VCT influences their attitude toward Voluntary Counseling and Testing services and examine how the nature Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) services provided influences pregnant women’s attitude toward/ or against the service. To collect the requisite data, questionnaires, interviews and documentary reviews were used. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 111 respondents who yielded 92.5% return rate. The data collected were analyzed with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), particularly in cross tabulation. In consequence, the findings show that pregnant women attending VCT services have positive perceptions of VCT services provided. However, few pregnant women in the community were attending voluntarily the VCT centers as it is not easy for them (women) to choose to test for HIV infection. The findings showed that majority of the pregnant women have the basic knowledge about VCT services offered at the health centers though it does not influence their attendance to VCT services. Furthermore, the findings have also shown that the nature of Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) services provided at the sample health centers contributed to influence pregnant women’s attitude toward the service though this attendance to influence to VCT centres was limited by fear of stigmatization from the community, isolation, divorce, loss of hope and early death if they were to be found infected. Also, the centre’s location, time spent at the VCT centre waiting for services, counsellor’s age and the language used by some nurses (who help counsellor) were a major concern. The implication is that the government and the VCT service health centres do not work hard enough to educate the public on the importance of attending VCT services. It is recommended that for the effective VCT service policy-makers should develop a comprehensive health services policy to cater for both VCT and health centres. Furthermore, development of the VCT service centres also need to incorporate the issue of transport system support. In addition, there is a need to strengthen the socializing environment for VCT staff and the clients attending for the services.