HIV Knowledge and Testing Beliefs among Pregnant Latinas in Rural South Carolina, 2012

Introduction: As of 2011, rates of new HIV diagnoses among Latinas in the southern region of the United States were 2.8 times as high as the rates for white women.  Though rates of perinatal HIV transmission have decreased, racial/ethnic disparities persist among Latinas. Routine HIV screening is recommended for all pregnant women, but gaps remain and Latinas in the rural south have been understudied.  To strengthen culturally tailored HIV perinatal prevention, we assessed HIV knowledge among pregnant Latinas in the rural south.

Methods: During 2012, we administered a 12-item Spanish-language HIV-knowledge survey to Latinas receiving prenatal care in rural South Carolina, scaling respondents as having ‘high’ ( ≥ 9 of 12 [75%] items correct) or ‘low’ (< 9 items correct) knowledge. We computed medians for continuous variables and adjusted odds ratios (AOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between demographic correlates and high HIV knowledge.

Results: We enrolled 171 women; median age 28 years. Only 12% (n=21) women reported having an antenatal HIV test; 80% (n=134) had low HIV knowledge; 57% (n=97) had been in the US ≥7 years. Thirty-nine percent (64 of 166) knew that there is medicine to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission. In multivariate analyses, high HIV knowledge was more likely only among women who had middle school or higher education (AOR 9.45, 95% CI 2.78 - 32.0). 

Conclusion: These findings highlight the need for interventions to educate pregnant Latinas in the rural south about antenatal HIV testing and availability of effective HIV prevention strategies.