Background: With the introduction of the opt out HIV testing policy in Ghana, the HIV test is offered routinely to all pregnant women unless they decline testing.
Objective: To assess acceptability of the routine offer of HIV testing antenatal clinic (ANC) clients in the Wa municipality, Ghana.
Design: Cross-sectional study of 270 randomly selected ANC attendees.
Results: More than 90% of respondents were in favour of the opt-out policy. The most commonly cited reasons were that it would help pregnant women know their status and facilitate prevention of mother to child
transmission of HIV (PMTCT). About 60% of respondents had tested for HIV in the current pregnancy with more than 90% reporting that the test was offered them in a manner in which they could have refused the test.
HIV testing in the current pregnancy was associated with having heard of the opt-out policy (p