Determinants of Male Involvement in the Prevention of Mother‐to‐Child Transmission of HIV in the Bamenda Health District, Cameroon

Résumé fourni par la source

Background Prevention of mother‐to‐child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV remains a major public health problem. Male involvement has been seen as one of the ways of scaling up the PMTCT of HIV. However, studies have shown a low male involvement; hence, the objective of this study was to assess the determinants of male involvement in the PMTCT of HIV. Method The study was a community‐based cross‐sectional study in the Northwest Region of Cameroon. A total of 406 participants from the Bamenda Health District were selected using a consecutive sampling method. Data were collected through a well‐structured questionnaire. Data entry and analysis were performed using SPSS Version 23. The results were presented at a 95% confidence interval. Results The level of good knowledge, attitudes, and practices of PMTCT of HIV by men was 86.5%, 75.4%, and 42.6%, respectively. The knowledge of mother‐to‐child transmission was high at 98.5% (CI: 96.8–99.3) and significantly associated with education and MI ( p ∼0.001). Men who had attained tertiary and secondary education were more likely to have a higher MI (OR: 0.37, 95% CI: 0.2–0.7; 0.49, 95% CI: 0.2–0.49). Those who were married (OR: 0.17, 95% CI: 0.05–0.6) or living together (OR: 0.39, 95% CI: 0.2–0.7) were less likely to have a high male involvement in PMTCT. Conclusion Although the men were highly knowledgeable and had a positive attitude toward PMTCT, this was not translated into practice, as less than 50% of the men were involved in PMTCT.