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HIV risk perception, actual HIV risk, sexual risk behaviours, and oral PrEP continuation at the 1-month follow-up in pregnant women not living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa: A mediation analysis

Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) of reproductive age in South Africa are heavily burdened with HIV. If taken effectively, oral preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) prevents HIV acquisition in pregnant women without HIV. We investigated factors associated with oral PrEP continuation at the 1- month...

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Main Author: Moeletsi, Kgotlaganyo
Other Authors: Joseph-Davey, Dvora
Format: Thesis
Language:English
English
Published: Department of Public Health and Family Medicine 2025
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access_status_str Open Access
author Moeletsi, Kgotlaganyo
author2 Joseph-Davey, Dvora
author_browse Joseph-Davey, Dvora
Moeletsi, Kgotlaganyo
author_facet Joseph-Davey, Dvora
Moeletsi, Kgotlaganyo
author_sort Moeletsi, Kgotlaganyo
collection Thesis
description Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) of reproductive age in South Africa are heavily burdened with HIV. If taken effectively, oral preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) prevents HIV acquisition in pregnant women without HIV. We investigated factors associated with oral PrEP continuation at the 1- month follow-up and the role of HIV risk perception and actual HIV risk in motivating oral PrEP continuation in pregnant women. Data from a cohort of pregnant and postpartum women without HIV in Cape Town, South Africa (PrEP-PP), were analysed using logistic regression models and mediation analysis to assess factors associated with oral PrEP continuation at 1-month and the extent to which HIV risk perception and actual HIV risk explain the relationship between sexual risk behaviours and oral PrEP continuation. Of the 1349 pregnant women enrolled, 84% initiated PrEP at the first antenatal care (ANC) visit. Unemployment (aOR=1.33; 95% CI=1.03-1.73), inconsistent condom use during sex (aOR=0.49; 95%CI=0.22-1.00), having a partner living with HIV/unknown HIV status partner (aOR=1.33; 95% CI=1.00-1.77), being at a medium-to-high risk of acquiring HIV (aOR=1.34; 95% CI=1.00-1.78), STI diagnosis at baseline (aOR=1.30; 95% CI=0.98-1.72), and having no current sex partner (aOR=1.63; 95% CI=0.95-2.89) were associated with oral PrEP continuation at 1-month follow up. Using condoms sometimes during sex (aOR=0.53; 95% CI=0.23-1.12) and being unmarried/not cohabiting (aOR=1.25; 95% CI=0.95-1.66) were marginally associated with oral PrEP continuation. Two-thirds of women misclassified their perceived HIV risk as being at low-risk despite reporting condomless sex or having a partner living with HIV/unknown HIV status partner, highlighting the discordance between actual and perceived HIV risk. The actual HIV risk partially explained the relationship between sexual risk behaviours and oral PrEP continuation at 1-month. Future research is needed on improving accurate assessments of HIV risk to improve PrEP continuation in pregnancy and postpartum.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language English
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last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:38:23.574Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41755 HIV risk perception, actual HIV risk, sexual risk behaviours, and oral PrEP continuation at the 1-month follow-up in pregnant women not living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa: A mediation analysis Moeletsi, Kgotlaganyo Joseph-Davey, Dvora Public Health Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) of reproductive age in South Africa are heavily burdened with HIV. If taken effectively, oral preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) prevents HIV acquisition in pregnant women without HIV. We investigated factors associated with oral PrEP continuation at the 1- month follow-up and the role of HIV risk perception and actual HIV risk in motivating oral PrEP continuation in pregnant women. Data from a cohort of pregnant and postpartum women without HIV in Cape Town, South Africa (PrEP-PP), were analysed using logistic regression models and mediation analysis to assess factors associated with oral PrEP continuation at 1-month and the extent to which HIV risk perception and actual HIV risk explain the relationship between sexual risk behaviours and oral PrEP continuation. Of the 1349 pregnant women enrolled, 84% initiated PrEP at the first antenatal care (ANC) visit. Unemployment (aOR=1.33; 95% CI=1.03-1.73), inconsistent condom use during sex (aOR=0.49; 95%CI=0.22-1.00), having a partner living with HIV/unknown HIV status partner (aOR=1.33; 95% CI=1.00-1.77), being at a medium-to-high risk of acquiring HIV (aOR=1.34; 95% CI=1.00-1.78), STI diagnosis at baseline (aOR=1.30; 95% CI=0.98-1.72), and having no current sex partner (aOR=1.63; 95% CI=0.95-2.89) were associated with oral PrEP continuation at 1-month follow up. Using condoms sometimes during sex (aOR=0.53; 95% CI=0.23-1.12) and being unmarried/not cohabiting (aOR=1.25; 95% CI=0.95-1.66) were marginally associated with oral PrEP continuation. Two-thirds of women misclassified their perceived HIV risk as being at low-risk despite reporting condomless sex or having a partner living with HIV/unknown HIV status partner, highlighting the discordance between actual and perceived HIV risk. The actual HIV risk partially explained the relationship between sexual risk behaviours and oral PrEP continuation at 1-month. Future research is needed on improving accurate assessments of HIV risk to improve PrEP continuation in pregnancy and postpartum. 2025-09-10T13:00:14Z 2025-09-10T13:00:14Z 2025 2025-09-10T12:55:11Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41755 en eng application/pdf Department of Public Health and Family Medicine Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Public Health
Moeletsi, Kgotlaganyo
HIV risk perception, actual HIV risk, sexual risk behaviours, and oral PrEP continuation at the 1-month follow-up in pregnant women not living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa: A mediation analysis
thesis_degree_str Doctoral
title HIV risk perception, actual HIV risk, sexual risk behaviours, and oral PrEP continuation at the 1-month follow-up in pregnant women not living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa: A mediation analysis
title_full HIV risk perception, actual HIV risk, sexual risk behaviours, and oral PrEP continuation at the 1-month follow-up in pregnant women not living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa: A mediation analysis
title_fullStr HIV risk perception, actual HIV risk, sexual risk behaviours, and oral PrEP continuation at the 1-month follow-up in pregnant women not living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa: A mediation analysis
title_full_unstemmed HIV risk perception, actual HIV risk, sexual risk behaviours, and oral PrEP continuation at the 1-month follow-up in pregnant women not living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa: A mediation analysis
title_short HIV risk perception, actual HIV risk, sexual risk behaviours, and oral PrEP continuation at the 1-month follow-up in pregnant women not living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa: A mediation analysis
title_sort hiv risk perception actual hiv risk sexual risk behaviours and oral prep continuation at the 1 month follow up in pregnant women not living with hiv in cape town south africa a mediation analysis
topic Public Health
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41755
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