Women Perception of Service Quality at Antiretroviral Therapy Centres in Ghana: Evidence from Ashanti Region

Abstract

In Ghana, the number of  HIV positive women who received a complete course of ART for PMTCT has been very low and inconsistent over the last three years In the Ashanti Region,  only 22.2% of HIV positive women in need received ART  attended ART centres for medication  in 2010. Certainly, appropriate strategy is required to improve use of ART centres. Thus the study aimed at exploring HIV positive women perception of ART centres specifically service quality and its implication on their use of ART centres. The study was conducted in three out of eight ART centres in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Data was collected from a total of 265 HIV positive women who had being on ARVs for treatment or prophylaxis technique. The respondents were randomly sampled for the study. The data was collected using semi structured questionnaires and focus group discussions (FGDs) using tape recorders and interviews guides. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 was used to analyse the data. Generally the respondents perceived the service quality as satisfactory as they are  satisfied with the care given them by the staff of the ART centres. However,   Long waiting times, unavailability of drugs and lack of follow ups have been mentioned by the respondents are key barriers to barriers to ART centre attendance by the respondents. Thus efforts should be made to reduce waiting time of patients, and make drug available. Future study should be a multidimensional study which would critically examine all barriers influencing access to ART.

Keywords: ART, PMTCT, HIV, Women, Ghana