Conference Abstract | Volume 9 (ConfPro8): Abstract 34 | Published: 06 Oct 2026
Abass Abdul-Karim1, Eugene Sackeya2,3, Emmanuel Asamoah1, Martin Muonibe Beru3,4, Stebleson Azure1, Toyibu Yakubu2, Williams Azumah Abanga5, Welbeck Kwesi Akplu2, Benedict Ofori Appiah2, Francis Kpadonou2, Victor Zeng6, Maxwell Afetor6, Samuel Adolf Bosoka7, Chrysantus Kubio2,8
1Tamale Zonal Public Health and Reference Laboratory, Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana, 2Northern Regional Health Directorate, Ghana Health Service, Tamale, Ghana, 3Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, 4Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Fred N. Binka School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana, 5Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tamale Teaching Hospital, Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana, 6Health Information Unit, Volta Regional Health Directorate, Ghana Health Service, Ho, Ghana, 7Disease Surveillance Unit, Volta Regional Health Directorate, Ghana Health Service, Ho, Ghana, 8Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Fred N. Binka School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana
&Corresponding author: Abass Abdul-Karim, Tamale Zonal Public Health and Reference Laboratory, Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana. Email: abdul-karim.abass@ghs.gov.gh, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5606-1123
Received: 11 Mar 2026, Accepted: 30 Aug 2026, Published: 06 Oct 2026
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Early infant diagnosis, HIV infection, incidence, PMTCT, Northern Region
©Abass Abdul-Karim et al Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Abass Abdul-Karim, et al. Probability, incidence and predictors of HIV infection among HIV-exposed infants in the Northern Region of Ghana. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2026;9(ConfPro8):34. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO8-0034
Breaking the chain of transmission and enabling mothers living with HIV to give birth to healthy, HIV-negative newborns remains a major public health priority. Despite the implementation of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) interventions in Northern Ghana, new HIV infections continue to occur among HIV-exposed infants, while laboratory-based evidence describing their epidemiology remains limited. This study determined the probabilities, incidence, and predictors of HIV infection among HIV-exposed infants in the Northern Region of Ghana.
Stata statistical software version 17.0 was used for data analysis. Sociodemographic characteristics were described as frequencies and percentages, while life table analysis was used to assess probabilities. The Kaplan-Meier Curve was used to illustrate the curve of infection among HIV-exposed infants, and the STPTIME function per/10,000 person-days was used to assess the incidence rate. The Weibull distribution was employed to assess determinants of HIV infection among HIV exposed infants.
A total of 323 records of HIV-exposed infants were reviewed for the study, of which 17(5.3%) were infected. The cumulative probability of HIV infection at the end of 18 months was 0.1585 (95% CI: 0.0877-0.2772), while the overall incidence rate was 4.8 per 10,000 person-days (95% CI: 3.0 – 7.7). Age group 90-180 days (aHR: 0.09, 95% CI: 0.02 – 0.39, p < 0.001) had a lower hazard of infection compared with 1-90 days. Inversely, the hazard of HIV infection was 0.06 lower among participants tested in 2022 (aHR: 0.06, 95% CI: 0.01- 0.50, p = 0.009) compared with 2021.
HIV infection among HIV-exposed infants was uncommon in the Northern Region. However, infants aged 1–90 days experienced the highest hazard of infection. Strengthening PMTCT interventions during pregnancy, delivery, and the early postnatal period could further reduce HIV transmission among HIV-exposed infants.
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