ABSTRACT

Hepatitis C, it constitutes a major public health problem worldwide, with important implications on the health of pregnant women, their sexual partners and newborns. Sexualli Transmitted Infections (STI) have been associated with spontaneous miscarriages, premature birth, low birth weight and other complications specific to infectious agents. In addition to sexual and parenteral transmission, vertical transmission (VT) from mother to fetus during pregnancy or childbirth is another relevant transmission route. The aim of this research work was to investigate the prevalence rate of Hepititis C Virus among pregnant women attending antenatal. The study was carried out at Women’s Health and Action Reseach center, Benin City, Edo State. Benin City. 5ml of blood sample were collected into a EDTA container by venipuncture. Serum was extracted by centrifugation. Demographic and risk factor of patients were collected and analyzed using serum collected and tested for HCV using Rapid Test Strip(RDT). From the result obtained in this study, 16(10.66%) were positive to the HCV while 134(89.5%) were negative to HCV.