Abstract
Introduction: Mother-to-child transmission is the leading cause of HIV infection in children. Without treatment, half of these HIV infected children die before their second birthday.Purpose: To establish the contribution of mother-baby-pair points approach to eMTCT outcomes in Arua District Uganda.Material and Methods: A descriptive and analytical cross sectional study design which employed mixed methods approach was used. 196 HIV positive breast feeding mothers from three government hospitals (Arua Regional Referral Hospital, Adumi Health Center IV and Oli Health Center IV) were interviewed. Data was collected using structured questionnaires, focus group discussions and interviews guides.Results: Majority 168 (85.7%) of the respondents and their babies were enrolled to eMTCT care immediately after delivery and up to 17(8.7%) were enrolled beyond two weeks after delivery. Reasons for enrolment into care included; counseling before, during and after pregnancy on the importance of adherence to ART, early enrolment into care and delivery in a health facility. Most of the babies enrolled in mother-baby-points were HIV sero-negative (75.5%) with only 6.6% of them being sero-positive, thus signifying the contribution of mother-baby-points towards eliminating mother-child-transmission of HIV. Age of mothers was associated with retention on eMTCT care (χ2(5) =11.19, p=0.048). Again, having had any form of education on eMTCT was associated with retention on eMTCT care (p=0.001).Conclusion: The degree of enrollment in to eMTCT care was high but some mothers who still enrolled late. This affects early infant diagnosis, uptake of eMTCT services and retention of mothers and their infants.
Highlights
Mother-to-child transmission is the leading cause of HIV infection in children
Majority 168 (85.7%) of the respondents and their babies were enrolled to elimination of mother to child transmission (eMTCT) care immediately after delivery and up to 17(8.7%) were enrolled beyond two weeks after delivery
3.3 million children were living with HIV in 2012, with an estimated 260 000 newly infected with HIV according to World Health Organization (WHO, 2014) and in this Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV is an important contributor to the transmission
Summary
Mother-to-child transmission is the leading cause of HIV infection in children. Without treatment, half of these HIV infected children die before their second birthday.Purpose: To establish the contribution of mother-baby-pair points approach to eMTCT outcomes in Arua District Uganda. It is estimated that less than 15% of pregnant women get tested for HIV and less than 12% of sero-positive women have access to antiretroviral prophylaxis in many resource poor settings, including the simplest single dose regiment (WHO, 2014). The implication of this is that without the appropriate medical intervention and treatment, about 15–30% of infants born to HIV-positive mothers will become infected with HIV during gestation and delivery, with a further 5–15% becoming infected through breastfeeding (Sidik, 2014). In order to prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child in Africa, World Health Organization (WHO, 2010) advocates for comprehensive approaches. This comprehensive approach entails: primary prevention of http://journal.julypress.com/index.php/ijsn
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