Perceptions of adolescent girls and young women regarding HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis usage at public health facilities in Katima Mulilo, Zambezi region, Namibia

Zambezi population and most especially adolescent girls, and young women are at high risk of HIV infection. This is evidenced by the prevalence of HIV among adults aged 15 to 64 in Zambezi region at 22.3 %. Among this percentage, the number of new infections among adolescent girls and young women was at 2,323 in 2016 to 2017. The Ministry of Health and Social services has the HIV preventative guidelines in place which provides free HIV Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PREP) to the high-risk population as a preventative measure. The data shows only 147 people initiated on PREP in Zambezi health facility between August 2017 and July 2018. The number of new infections outweigh the PrEP initiations per year. Therefore, the study titled “perceptions of adolescent girls and young women regarding HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis usage at public health facilities in Katima Mulilo, Zambezi region, Namibia” was conducted. This qualitative exploratory descriptive design study utilised the socioecological model to explore and describe the perceptions of adolescent girls and young women aged 18- 24years regarding HIV PrEP usage at public health facilities in Katima Mulilo, Zambezi region. The study was conducted at three health facilities that are offering HIV PrEP. Twelve (12) face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with adolescent girls and young women aged 18-24 years who visited the health facility for an HIV test or presented with signs and symptoms of a sexually transmitted infection and tested HIV negative during data collection process. Purposive sampling technique was used on participants who met the inclusion criteria. Participants were employed until data saturation. Four (4) themes and several subthemes emerged from the data collected and formed part of the findings of this study. The identified themes were; participants perceived factors that influence the usage of HIV pre exposure prophylaxis, providers and health facilities factors that influence the usage of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among adolescent girls and young women. ii Furthermore, participants also perceived health policy factors that influence the usage of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among adolescent girls and young women. Participants recommended solutions to facilitate the provision of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among adolescent girls and young women. The study concluded that adolescent girls and young women decision on using HIV PrEP from health facilities in Katima Mulilo is influenced by social factors based on individual, interpersonal and society. Furthermore, the results also indicated that there is poor awareness and education on HIV PrEP usage as well as poor HIV PrEP services at health facilities. Therefore, the study recommends the establishment of functional and well supervised adolescent friendly corners to increase HIV PrEP usage among adolescents’ girls and young women. In addition, the study suggests reviewing the HIV PREP policies to strengthen and decentralize the HIV PrEP awareness campaigns. Finally, further methodologically sound research is needed to investigate the experiences and influences of HIV PrEP usage among adolescent girls and young women

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Namibia

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Sisamu, Miliko F.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Amukugo, Hans J.

• Perceptions
• Adolescent Girls and Young Women
• HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis usage
• Public health facilities included in abstract
• University of Namibia

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11070/3929

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.unam.edu.na:11070/3929