TITLE:
Maternal and Facility-Level Factors Influencing Enrolment Time for Early Infant Diagnosis Services at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya
AUTHORS:
Chilombe Justus Timothy, Kiilu Mueke Elizabeth, Ngure Kenneth
KEYWORDS:
HIV-Exposed Infants, Early Infant Diagnosis, Vertical Transmission, Maternal
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Epidemiology,
Vol.16 No.4,
November
10,
2026
ABSTRACT: Introduction: The global fight against HIV infection among children still stands as a challenge worldwide. Globally, vertical HIV transmission is 9%, but Africa accounts for 90% of all infections. In 2018, the mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) rate for Kenya was 11.5%, accounting for 8.9% of the global vertical transmission. Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine maternal and facility-level factors influencing enrolment time for early infant diagnosis services at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital (MLKH) in Nairobi, Kenya. Materials and Methodology: The study adopted a cross-sectional study design on HIV-exposed infants enrolled at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital. Systematic random sampling was used to select 153 HIV-exposed infants. Qualitative data were transcribed, entered, coded, and thematically analysed using NVivo, and presented using emerging themes. The quantitative data analysis was done using STATA version 14. The quantitative data were descriptively analysed using measures of central tendency (mean, mode and median), proportions, and percentages. The quantitative data were further analysed using inferential statistics (Chi-square) to assess the association of the independent and dependent variables. Logistic regression was used to analyse quantitative data at the bivariate level. Results: A total of 153 HIV-exposed infants enrolled in receiving EID services at MLKH; 14 (9.2%) infants were enrolled after 6 weeks which was considered a delay in the EID services. At a 95% confidence level p-value (0.05), Fisher’s exact test showed that marital status, occupation and household income (0.016), (0.001) and (0.010), respectively, were significant. At the p-value (0.05), the Binary logistic regression showed that the mothers who were diagnosed HIV positive during the time of childbirth and during breastfeeding were more likely to delay in enrolment than those who were diagnosed before becoming pregnant with [OR = 3.530 (95% CI 0.004 - 1.077), p = 0.044] and [OR = 2.089 (95% CI 0.001 - 0.979), p = 0.009]. Conclusion: The study corroborates that women who were late diagnosed HIV positive during their period of pregnancy were more likely to bring their infants late to Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) care which is a risk of HIV transmission from the mother to the child.