Missed Opportunities for Family Planning Counselling among HIV-Positive Women Receiving HIV Care in Uganda

Abstract

Abstract; Introduction HIV-positive women who are still in the reproductive years need adequate sexual and reproductive health information to make informed reproductive health choices. However, many HIV-positive women who interface with the health system continue to miss out on this information. We sought to: a) determine the proportion of HIV-positive women enrolled in HIV care who missed family planning (FP) counselling; and b) assess if any association existed between FP counseling and current use of modern contraception to inform programming.Methods Data were drawn from a quantitative national cross-sectional survey of 5,198 HIV-positive women receiving HIV care at 245 HIV clinics in Uganda; conducted between August and November 2016. Family planning counseling was defined as receipt of FP information by an HIV-positive woman during ANC, at the time of delivery or at the PNC visit. Analyses on receipt of FP counseling were done on 2,760 HIV-positive women aged 15-49 years who were not currently pregnant and did not intend to have children in the future. We used a modified Poisson regression model to determine the Prevalence Ratio (PR) as a measure of association between receipt of any FP counseling and current use of modern contraception, controlling for potential confounders. Analyses were performed using STATA statistical software, version 14.1.Results Overall, 2,104 (76.2%) HIV-positive women reported that they received FP counseling at any of the three critical time-points. Of the 24% ( n =656) who did not, 37.9% missed FP counseling at ANC; 41% missed FP counseling during delivery; while 54% missed FP counseling at the post-natal care visit. HIV-positive women who received any FP counseling were significantly more likely to report current use of modern contraception than those who did not (adjusted PR [adj. PR] = 1.21; 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.10, 1.33).Conclusion Nearly one-quarter of HIV-positive women did not receive any form of FP counseling when they interfaced with the healthcare system. This presents a missed opportunity for prevention of unintended pregnancies, and suggests a need for the integration of FP counseling into HIV care at all critical time-points.