Improving Uptake of Voluntary Counseling and Testing of HIV in Ghana

Voluntary Counselling and Testing in Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV has been integrated into Antenatal services in Ghana since 2003. There has been very low uptake in its implementation but the percentage of pregnant women agreeing to the test after counselling is encouraging. A strategy is needed to expand the uptake of counselling to prevent babies from acquiring HIV from their infected mothers.Kumasi South Hospital in Ashanti region of Ghana is one of the implementing sites, which is also affected by the low uptake of VCT of HIV among pregnant women. Among the major factors identified is poor staff motivation of HIV counsellors or the midwives who are offering these services as additional duties to the Antenatal services they provide. This review study aims at improving staff motivation in order to improve uptake of Voluntary Counseling and Testing in Prevetion of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV at Kumasi South Hospital and other VCT implementation sites in Ghana.