Presence of Chaperones during Pelvic Examinations in Southeast Nigeria: Women's Opinions; Attitude; and Preferences

Objectives: To assess the opinions; attitude; and preferences of Nigerian women to the presence of chaperones during pelvic examinations.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey of first time gynecology clinic attendees on their opinions; attitudes; and preferences with respect to the presence of chaperones during their pelvic examinations. The interview was conducted with the aid of semi-structured; researcher-administered questionnaires.Results: One hundred and nineteen (51.7) of the respondents preferred female physicians for pelvic examination; 23 (10) preferred male physicians and 88 (38.3) had no gender preference. When the examining physician is a male; 124 (53.9) respondents would like to have chaperones during pelvic examinations while 106 (46.1) would not. Eighty-three percent of respondents preferred nurse chaperones. Age; level of education; and parity did not have any significant relationship with the attitude of the respondents toward the presence of chaperones (P = 0.503; 0.525; and 0.605 respectively).Conclusions: We conclude that most southeastern Nigerian women would prefer their pelvic examinations to be done by a female physician or to be attended by a nurse chaperone if the examining physician is a male. We recommend a routine offer of chaperones during such examinations while respecting the patients' right to refuse the offer

Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus: The Nigerian Perspective

Despite the proven effectiveness of the prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) program; Nigeria currently has the highest burden of vertical transmission of HIV in the world due to poor coverage of the PMTCT program partly as a result of poor knowledge of PMTCT interventions amongst healthcare providers in the country. This paper aims at making information on PMTCT interventions more readily available to healthcare providers in developing countries. The internet was searched using Google and Google scholar. In addition; relevant electronic journals from the Universities library including PubMed and Scirus; Medline; Cochrane library; and World Health Organization (WHO)'s Hinari were used. There was paucity of published work on PMCT from Nigeria. Most of the information concerning PMCT in Nigeria was obtained from technical reports from the Federal Ministry of Health and WHO. It is expected that this article will help in improving healthcare providers' knowledge of PMTCT interventions and thus help in the urgently needed rapid scale-up of PMTCT services in Nigeria