Prevalence and impact of sexually transmitted infections in pregnant women in central Ethiopia

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues to be a major global public health issue and omnipresent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) increase the risk of HIV acquisition. Moreover, STIs and HIV in pregnant women can harm the unborn child. In this study, we systematically investigated the prevalence of HIV, relevant STIs and vaginal group B streptococcus colonization among pregnant women presenting at Asella Teaching Hospital in central Ethiopia and their effect on perinatal mortality. A follow-up was performed six weeks after delivery. A total of 580 women were included, of which 26.6% tested positive for at least one pathogen ( Chlamydia trachomatis 9.8%, trichomoniasis 5.3%, hepatitis B 5.3%, gonorrhoea 4.3%, group B streptococcus 2.4%, syphilis 2.2%, HIV 2.1%). None of the HIV infections were previously undiagnosed, indicating effective HIV screening activities in the region. Follow-up data were available for 473 (81.6%) children, of which 37 (7.8%) were stillborn or died within the first six weeks of life. Infection with Trichomonas vaginalis and recruitment at obstetric ward (versus antenatal care) were associated with mortality. High prevalence of STIs in pregnant women and their impact on the unborn child demonstrate the need for screening and treatment programmes in order to prevent perinatal mortality.

Hepatitis B Virus Infection and Its Determinants among Pregnant Women in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…HBV infection screening and treatment among pregnant women in addition to universal newborn vaccination [48,49] are important to prevent perinatal mortality [38] whereas screening pregnant women for hepatitis B infection based on risk factors may not be effective [50]. Vaccination of neonates of HBV-positive mothers within 24 hours of delivery prevents 90-95% of transmission [2].…”

“…. Twenty-three of the studies included in the final analysis were cross-sectional [11,14,23,24,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]. The studies used health facilitybased HBV infection data among pregnant women which were collected from 2002 to 2018 in the respective health institutions.…”

“…The studies used health facilitybased HBV infection data among pregnant women which were collected from 2002 to 2018 in the respective health institutions. Seven articles were conducted at the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) [11,14,29,31,35,39,47], five in Amhara region [23,24,30,32,36], five in Oromia region [33,37,38,41,44], and three in Addis Ababa [34,41,42], whereas one in Tigray [46], Harar [43], and Gambella [45]. The sample size of included studies ranges from a minimum of 165 pregnant women in SNNPR [39] to 580 in Oromia [38].…”

An updated systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of hepatitis B virus in Ethiopia

“…22(36.7%) [20, 29, 31, 36-38, 44, 46, 49, 50, 53, 58, 62, 63, 67-69, 71, 75, 78, 79, 82], Oromia region 12(20%)[32,34, 41,47,48,56,60,61,64,83,85,87], and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) 9(15%)[30, 43,52,65,66, 70, 74,76,86]. The sample size across the studies was ranged from 108[53] to 35435 [44] obtained from the Amhara region.…”

An updated systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of hepatitis B virus in Ethiopia

“…The most recent study was conducted in 2019. Regarding the included studies on prevalence of HBV, more than of the half of the studies were obtained from Amhara region 22 (36.7%)[19, 28, 30, 35-37, 43, 45, 48, 49, 52, 57, 61, 62, 66-68, 70, 74, 77, 78, 81], Oromia region 12(20%)[31, 33, 40,46,47,55,59,60,63,82,84,86], and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) 9(15%)[29, 42,51,64,65,69,73,75,85]…”