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Awareness, perceived treatment needs of oral manifestation of HIV AIDS and access to dental care among people living with HIV/AIDS at Rorya, Mara Tanzania
Abstract
Aim: : To assess awareness of oral manifestations of HIV/ AIDS , perceived treatment needs and access to dental care among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Rorya, Mara Tanzania.
Design: A cross sectional study.
Materials/Study subjects: Rorya district in Mara region was conveniently selected as study area. Three hundred and ten (310) people living with HIV/ AIDS who attended Care and treatment clinics (CTCs) between August and October 2012 were invited to participate in this study. A pre tested self-administered questionnaire enquiring on socio-demographic characteristics, awareness of oral manifestations and their management, self perceived treatment needs and access to dental care was used in this study. Data processing and analysis was carried out using statistical package for social services (SPSS 16 version). Chi square was used to test for statistical significant differences between subgroups and the difference was assumed when p value was less than 0.05.
Results: More females (63.8%) than males participated in the study. In the young age group there were 8 times females than males . More than half of the study participants (54.4%) were married. Awareness on oral manifestation of HIV/ AIDS was high (79%) with no statistically significant difference between males and females.
Care and treatment centre’s (61.8%) was the main source of information on oral manifestation of HIV/ AIDS. More than half (57.3%) of the participants reported to have self perceived oral treatment needs within the past 6 months, out of them (73.4%) did not seek treatment. Thirty seven percent of those who sought treatment did not receive treatment due to lack of money (50%) and unavailable dental services (50%).
Conclusion: Awareness of participants on oral manifestations of HIV /AIDS was high and greater proportion of males were aware than females with the difference being not statistically significant. More than half of the participants reported perceived dental treatment need in past six month but interestingly approximately three quarters did not seek treatment. The main reported reasons for not seeking treatment were lack of funds and unavailable dental services.
Design: A cross sectional study.
Materials/Study subjects: Rorya district in Mara region was conveniently selected as study area. Three hundred and ten (310) people living with HIV/ AIDS who attended Care and treatment clinics (CTCs) between August and October 2012 were invited to participate in this study. A pre tested self-administered questionnaire enquiring on socio-demographic characteristics, awareness of oral manifestations and their management, self perceived treatment needs and access to dental care was used in this study. Data processing and analysis was carried out using statistical package for social services (SPSS 16 version). Chi square was used to test for statistical significant differences between subgroups and the difference was assumed when p value was less than 0.05.
Results: More females (63.8%) than males participated in the study. In the young age group there were 8 times females than males . More than half of the study participants (54.4%) were married. Awareness on oral manifestation of HIV/ AIDS was high (79%) with no statistically significant difference between males and females.
Care and treatment centre’s (61.8%) was the main source of information on oral manifestation of HIV/ AIDS. More than half (57.3%) of the participants reported to have self perceived oral treatment needs within the past 6 months, out of them (73.4%) did not seek treatment. Thirty seven percent of those who sought treatment did not receive treatment due to lack of money (50%) and unavailable dental services (50%).
Conclusion: Awareness of participants on oral manifestations of HIV /AIDS was high and greater proportion of males were aware than females with the difference being not statistically significant. More than half of the participants reported perceived dental treatment need in past six month but interestingly approximately three quarters did not seek treatment. The main reported reasons for not seeking treatment were lack of funds and unavailable dental services.
