Midwives' perceptions of and attitudes towards prevention of mother-to-child-transmission of HIV

Background: Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV services has become an integral part of antenatal services. Prevention of mother-to-child transmission was introduced in all the regions of Ghana, but mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) continued to increase. Objectives: To explore and describe midwives' perceptions and attitudes towards PMTCT of HIV services. Method: Quantitative research approach and descriptive cross-sectional design were used. The population includes all midwives between the ages of 21 and 60 years who work in antenatal care (ANC) clinics in 11 district hospitals in the Central Region of Ghana where the study was conducted. Forty-eight midwives were interviewed using a census sample process. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21. Correlation analysis was performed to find the relationships between the attitudes and the perceptions of the midwives on PMTCT of HIV services. Results: Seventy percent of midwives had positive perceptions of PMTCT of HIV services and 85% had positive attitudes towards the provision of PMTCT of HIV services. Midwives were screening all pregnant women who visited the ANCs and referring those who tested positive to other institutions where they can be monitored. Some of the concerns considered were views on retesting HIV-infected pregnant women throughout their pregnancy. There was a positive correlation between attitudes and perceptions of midwives on PMTCT of HIV services. Conclusion: Midwives had positive perceptions and positive attitudes towards the PMTCT of HIV services that they were providing to antenatal attendees. Also, as the attitudes of the midwives towards PMTCT of HIV services improved, their perceptions of PMTCT services also improved. Contribution: Decentralisation of PMTCT of HIV services to community-based health facilities is appropriate to enable sub-district health facilities to test for HIV and provide counselling services to pregnant women.

Twenty years of prevention of mother to child HIV transmission: research to implementation at a national referral hospital in Uganda

Background: Over 90% of new paediatric HIV infections are acquired through mother to child transmission. Prevention of mother to child HIV transmission (PMTCT) research in sub-Saharan Africa informed WHO guidelines which enabled implementation of PMTCT programs globally. Objectives: To describe Makerere University-Johns Hopkins University (MU-JHU) perinatal HIV prevention research and implementation of the Mulago National Referral Hospital (MNRH) PMTCT program. Methods: Perinatal HIV prevention studies conducted at MU-JHU between 1997­2016 were summarized. Program aggregated data was extracted and analyzed using STATA 15. Results: In 1999, the HIVNET 012 study demonstrated that single-dose nevirapine (sdNVP) to the mother at onset of labor and to her newborn, reduced MTCT by nearly 50%. In 2016, the PROMISE study documented the safety and efficacy of ART during pregnancy and breastfeeding period. Program implementation at MNRH started in 2000. Uptake of HIV testing increased from 70% to 99% from 2006 onwards. sd NVP was the initial ARV regimen but by 2012, MOH recommended Option B+(triple therapy). MTCT rates reduced from 16.9% in 2001 to 2.3% in 2020. Conclusion: Perinatal HIV prevention clinical trials conducted at MU-JHU provided evidence to inform WHO PMTCT guidelines. MNRH program evaluation demonstrated the significant decline in MTCT rates over the last two decades.

Difficultés d'accessibilité aux activités de PTME dans le district de santé de Niamey V en 2016 / NA

Bien que la couverture des services de PTME soit relativement bonne mais avec des disparités selon les régions, de nombreuses femmes et nourrissons au Niger n'ont pas accès à ces interventions à temps. L'objectif de cette étude était d'identifier les facteurs limitant l'utilisation du service de PTME par les femmes vues en soins prénatals à l'hôpital de district de Niamey V en 2016. Méthodologie : Il s'agissait d'une étude transversale et analytique menée dans trois services de consultation prénatale, basée sur des entretiens avec toutes les femmes enceintes et les agents qui répondaient à nos critères d'inclusion. Notre échantillon comprenait 251 femmes enceintes et 8 agents de santé. Pour l'analyse des données nous avions utilisé les logiciels Epi info et Stata. Le test Ch2 de Pearson avait été utilisé pour relier les différentes variables. Résultats : L'âge variait de 15 à 47 ans avec une moyenne de 26,24 ans (écart type 6,19). La tranche d'âge des 21 à 35 ans était la plus représentée avec 78,49 %. Le niveau de connaissance sur le VIH/SIDA était satisfaisant. La TME avait été citée à 76,10, 56,57 % des femmes connaissaient l'existence du programme PTME et 56,57 % avaient cité les centres de santé comme source d'information. On avait noté que 25 % des agents de santé avaient une bonne connaissance des objectifs de PTME. L'analyse bivariée avait montré que la grossesse (Chi 2 Pearson = 8,29, p = 0,040) était positivement corrélée avec la connaissance du programme PTME alors que nous n'avions pas trouvé de relation significative avec le niveau d'éducation (Chi2 Pearson = 0,70, p = 0,401) Conclusion : Notre enquête nous a permis de constater que les femmes enceintes avaient une assez bonne connaissance du VIH/SIDA mais peu en PTME

Although the coverage of PMTCT services is relatively good but with disparities by region, many women and infants in Niger do not have access to its interventions on time. The objective of this study was to study the factors limiting the use of the PMTCT service by women seen in antenatal care at the Niamey V District Hospital in 2016. Methodology :This is a cross-sectional, analytical study carried out in three antenatal clinics, based on interviewing all pregnant women and agents who met our inclusion criteria. Our sample consists of 251 pregnant women and 8 health workers. For the data analysis we used the software Epi info and Stata. Pearson's Ch2 test was used to relate the different variables. Results :The age ranges from 15 to 47 years old with an average of 26.24 years (standard deviation 6.19). The 21 to 35 age group was the most represented with 78.49%. The level of knowledge about HIV / AIDS is satisfactory. In terms of HIV transmission, MTCT was cited at 76.10%. It was noted that 56.57% of the women were aware of the existence of the PMTCT program and 56.57% had cited health centers as a source of information. It was also noted that 25% of health workers had a good knowledge of PMTCT goals. Bivariate analysis showed that pregnancy (Chi 2 Pearson = 8.29, p = 0.040) was positively correlated with knowledge of the PMTCT program while we did not find a significant relationship with educational level (Chi2 Pearson = 0.70, p = 0.401) Conclusion :Our survey allowed us to note that pregnant women have fairly good knowledge about HIV / AIDS but low on PMTCT

Outcomes of HIV-Exposed infants enrolled in the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) program in Philippine General Hospital: An 8-year retrospective study

Background@#Our country has the fastest growing number of HIV cases in the Asia-Pacific region with a 203% increase from 2010 to 2018. MTCT represents 6% of infections in children and interventions such as the PMTCT program are essential to help reduce new infant infections. @*Objective@#To determine the outcomes of HIV-exposed infants born in PGH from 2010 to 2018 enrolled in the PMTCT program. To analyze the association of maternal and neonatal clinicodemographic factors to MTCT of HIV.@*Methods@#A retrospective cohort study using data collected from medical records of HIV exposed infants enrolled in the program. @*Results@#Out of 117 mother-infant pairs, only 70 met the eligibility criteria. Maternal factors showed that majority have: timely antenatal visit (56/70), maternal HIV diagnosis (70/70) and ART initiation (67/70) prior to delivery, triple lifelong maternal ART (69/70), CD4 >200 prior to delivery (52/70) and cesarean delivery (67/70). Amongst the infant factors-early infant prophylaxis (60/62), >4weeks prophylaxis duration (62/70) and replacement feeding (62/70) were noted in the majority. 2/70 infants were HIV positive. Mortality rate was 1.4% and 50% for HIV infected infants. Overall LTFU rate was 33.3%. Logistic regression showed that maternal co-infection with Hepatitis B(p=0.0275) was a possible determinant of MTCT. Infant HIV prophylaxis duration of >4 weeks had higher survival proportion(p=.0001). @*Conclusion@#The HIV MTCT rate was 2.86% upon implementation of our PMTCT program, meeting the <5% goal of WHO, suggesting that the program was an effective health intervention strategy. The high LTFU rate though should be considered in the evaluation of the program effectiveness.

PMTCT Service Uptake among Pregnant Women in 3 Internally Displace Persons Camps in Borno State Northeast Nigeria

Background: Humanitarian emergencies upset and wreck existing healthcare services and systems. Pregnant women and infant are incredibly defenseless, as these infants are exposed to the risk of preventable childhood disease which includes HIV that is transmitted from their HIV positive mother. In the absence of any intervention, the risk of HIV transmission increases to about 40% among infant born to HIV positive mothers.Objectives: To examine the prevalence and uptake of HIV services among pregnant women and to assess the level of Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) by PCR uptake for children under 2 months born to HIV positive mothers.Methods: A sentinel case study approach conducted in 3 internally displaced people (IDP) camps in 3 LGAs (Banki, Dikwa and Ngala) of Borno state Nigeria, from January 2018 to May 2019. Data collected using standard tools and DHIS 2.0 used for data extraction and MS Excel used for analysis.Results: Prevalence of HIV among pregnant women (1st ANC Visits) in the 3 IDP camps were 1.22% (Ngala), 0.44% (Banki) and 0.16% (Dikwa) with an average of 0.61% compared to the 2018 National zonal average for the North East of1.1%. Uptake of HIV testing service among pregnant women in the 3 IDP camps were 90.65% (Ngala), 100% (Banki) and 100% (Dikwa), with an average uptake of 96.9%; while EID uptake for HIV exposed children within 2 months of age were: 50.0% (Dikwa), 12.5% (Banki) and 0% (Ngala).Conclusions: The study also shows that none of the 3IDP camps were able to optimize Early Infant Diagnosis at 2 months of birth. It is hereby recommended that Care-giver Focused Approach should be prioritized in preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) service delivery

Calculating the Number of Pregnant Women Receiving Standardized Services for PMTCT of HIV in Liangshan Prefecture, Based on the Equivalent Method / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

Objective@#To calculate the number of pregnant women who receive standardized prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services for HIV annually.@*Methods@#HIV-positive pregnant women in six counties of Liangshan Prefecture in 2017 were selected as study subjects. The entire process, from when the subjects first received the PMTCT of HIV services to the end, was divided into four stages, which were further divided into 25 phases. The equivalent coefficient was used to indicate the weight of workload in each phase. Seven experts were invited to score the equivalent coefficient; the number of pregnant women who received standardized services to prevent the transmission of HIV was calculated.@*Results@#A total of 663 HIV-positive pregnant women were registered in six Liangshan Prefecture counties in 2017. This figure was converted into 7,780 person-months devoted to HIV-positive pregnant women, with 260 person-months (3.34%) spent on the first antenatal care, 1,510 person-months (19.41%) during pregnancy, 378 person-months (4.86%) on delivery, and 5,632 person-months (72.39%) on post-partum period. The equivalent coefficient calculation showed that 314 HIV-positive pregnant women received standardized PMTCT services.@*Conclusion@#The number of pregnant women receiving standardized services for the PMTCT of HIV can be calculated accurately using the equivalent method to identify the gap between the level of PMTCT of HIV intervention services needed and the actual workload.

Studying prevention of parent to child transmission services, interventions, coverage and utilization

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is increasing at an alarming rate globally. Apart from heterosexual route, mother to-child transmission is the next most important route of HIV transmission accounting for over 90% of infections in children. The present retrospective study is undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of implementation of PPTCT programmed in GMERS Medical College, Sola, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.Methods: At ICTCs, registered ANCs are counseled and tested for HIV. HIV+ve ANCs are linked to services and followed-up for institutional delivery. Antiretroviral prophylaxis with nevirapine was given to seropositive mother-baby pairs during delivery and children testing. HIV+ve ANCs since 2014 to 2016 subsequently delivered till December 2018 and their exposed children followed up till 18 months for confirmation of their seropositivity status in PPTCT were study at GMERS medical college, sola, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.Results: 13595 ANCs registered, 100% were counseled pre-test, and 99.5% of them tested, 79.5% were counseled post-test.  CD4 testing was carried out in all HIV+ve ANCs. 55 ANCs were detected HIV+ve inclusive of 37 new registered, 16 re-pregnancy and 2 unregistered cases. 55 pregnancy outcomes reported institutionally total 85.9% delivered at institute out of them 26.5% were caesarian sections and 62.4% delivered vaginally. Out of 48 live births, 47 sdNVP-MB-Pair were given. 48 children were traced till 18 months, 82.5% of live births were alive, and 68.75% of live births were tested. 1 was found HIV+ve with history of adherence to all prescribed PPTCT guidelines.Conclusions: PMTCT services - counseling and testing should be provided to all ANCs. EDD-based tracking, institutional deliveries, postnatal counseling to be encouraged along with complete MB pair coverage, capacity building of concerned staff regarding delivery of HIV+ve ANCs and exposed children tracking.

Accessing Barriers and Determinants of Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV) Services at Public Teaching Hospitals in Enugu State, Nigeria

Introduction:The most effective means of reducing Mother-to-Child transmission of HIV is to provide suppressive HAART. Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) directly affects the achievement of Sustainable Development goals just. The unmet need for PMTCT services in Nigeria, particularly in Enugu state, is unacceptably high. This study aimed to assess factors associated with access barriers and determinants to PMTCT services in public health facilities in Enugu, Nigeria.Materials and Methods:The study design was a facility-based analytical cross-sectional study. HIV positive nursing mothers who were accessing PMTCT services were studied. Questionnaire was used. Chi-square test and Binary logistic regression was done to for determinants oexperience of any access barrier. Level of significance was determined at a p-value of ≤ 0.05.Results:A total of 2275 participants were reported on. A higher proportion of participants were in 30-34 years age group 124 (45.1%), attained secondary education 144(52.4%) and provided for by their husbands 174(63.3%) The major barriers identified were; long waiting time at the facility 184(66.9%), distance of facility 161(58.5%), PMTCT being far away from other units/departments 155(56.4%), Health workers talking to the clients with no respect 151(54.9%), Stigma and discrimination from friends/neighbours 163(59.3%) and from health workers 123(44.7%) as well as being too busy with householdchores 130(47.3%). There were statistically significant association between experience of barriers with age in categories (χ2=11.741, p =0.008), religion (χ2=5.381, p =0.020), source of income (χ2= 8.817, p=0.032) and ethnicity (χ2=9.240, p=0.026). Conclusion:Over ninety percent of respondents experienced a form of barrier. The major barriers include; long waiting time, distance to facility, location of PMTCT units, Health workers attitude, Stigma and discrimination from health workers as well as being too busy with household chores. There was no identified predictor of access barrier.

The implementation of prevention of mother-to-children HIV transmission program by private midwife practice at Denpasar city

Background: HIV infection is one of the top health concerns and contagious diseases which could lead to the death of mother and child. Based on the Health Department of Bali Province data (2014), the number of pregnant women who willingly did PMTCT test is 5,029 (42.91%) out of 11,719 pregnant women. This shows that the achievement is still below the national target which is 78% of HIV-tested pregnant women. This research sought to find out the factor which affects the implementation of PMTCT care by BPM at Denpasar city in 2018.Methods: This research was an analytical research using cross-sectional approach. The selection of sample used total sampling technique in which 73 BPM fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Data analysis utilized univariate analysis, bivariate analysis with chi-square test correlation test which was followed by multivariate analysis with logistic regression.Results: This study showed there was a significant relation (with p value <0.05) between the variable of working period, training and motivation with midwife compliance in PMTCT care. The most dominant variable which affected midwife compliance was working period variable (>5 years).Conclusions: Supervision from policy makers from Health Department and Public Health Center (Puskesmas) was essential in conducting a review regarding on PMTCT regularly to increase the scope of PMTCT at BPM.

An analysis on the effect of comprehensive intervention of HIV/AIDS PMTCT among pregnant women living with HIV in Zhoushan Islands / 预防医学

Objective To evaluate the effect of HIV/AIDS Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) among pregnant women living with HIV/AIDS in Zhoushan Islands and to provide basis for local PMTCT measures.Methods We retrospectively analyzed 23 cases of HIV antibody positive pregnant women who were treated with PMTCT during 2013-2015.Results Eight of the 23 cases decided to terminate the pregnancy while other 15 cases of pregnant decided to continue pregnancy,and preventive antiviral block drug therapy during pregnancy or before delivery was performed among 15 cases of pregnant,with the rate 100％ (15/15).The rate of neonatal preventive antiviral block drug therapy was 76.47％ (13/17).Neonates who were not breast fed was 88.24％ (15/17).The HIV positive rate among children was 0 (0/17) when they were detected at 18 month after birth.Conclusion PMTCT could effectively decrease the risk of mother -to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS.

Assessing the Uptake of Services for Preventing Mother-to-child Transmission of HIV in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria.

Introduction: Mother-to-child transmission of HIV remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children below five years of age in Nigeria. Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the uptake of services for preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV in Benin City. Methods: A review of the National PMTCT registers was conducted across seven health facilities in Benin City that provide comprehensive services for preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The period of review was from 1st January, 2010-31st December, 2010. A data form was used to collect data on the National PMTCT service indicators from the different registers at the sites. Results: 13, 907 pregnant women registered for antenatal care across the seven sites during the period reviewed. Of these, the proportion of pregnant women counselled for HIV was 89.1%, the proportion of pregnant women who accepted HIV testing was 87.9% and the proportion of women, counselled, tested and who received results was 87.2%. 569 of the new antenatal care attendees (4.66%) tested positive for HIV. Of these, 520 (91.4%) received antiretroviral prophylaxis to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Three hundred and seventy-six babies were delivered by HIV positive women across the sites during the period reviewed. Of these, 367 (97.6%) were delivered alive and 339 (92.4%) received Nevirapine prophylaxis. Four of the seven sites had records of HIV testing for HIV-exposed infants. The records from these sites indicated 672 HIV-exposed infants were tested for HIV of which 46 (6.84%) tested positive for HIV using DNA polymerase chain reaction. Conclusion: The uptake of most PMTCT services across the seven PMTCT sites in Benin City was above 80.0%. The uptake of partner counselling among partners of HIV positive women in this study was 15.1%. The rate of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in this study was 6.84%.

Eliminating vertically-transmitted HIV/AIDS while improving access to treatment and care for women, children and adolescents in Jamaica / Eliminando la transmisión vertical del VIH/SIDA mejorando a la par el acceso al tratamiento y el cuidado de las mujeres, los niños y los adolescentes en Jamaica

BACKGROUND AND METHODS: To celebrate Jamaica's 50th birthday after receiving independence from Great Britain, we summarize our collaborative published research in the prevention, treatment and care of paediatric, perinatal and adolescent HIV/AIDS in Jamaica. RESULTS: Public access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Jamaica has shown that a "test and treat" strategy associated with "treatment for prevention" works for HIV-infected pregnant women by reducing their HIV-attributable morbidity and mortality and reducing mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) rates to < 2%, islandwide. These women experience significant psychosocial stress and targeted interventions are assisting them to improve their quality of life. HIV-exposed and infected children come from large families with high rates of teen pregnancies and significant financial challenges needing sustained interventions. HIV-exposed but uninfected Jamaican infants have higher rates of community-acquired infections, including lower respiratory tract infections, sepsis and gastroenteritis compared to community controls, although their growth rates are normal. In evaluation of replication capacity, viral control and clinical outcomes after vertical transmission in Jamaican mother-infant pairs, HLA-B57 was found to confer the advantage of restricted HIV replication primarily by driving and maintaining a fitness-attenuating mutation in p-24 Gag. Viral sequences from 52 MTCT Jamaican pairs were compared and 1475 sites of mother-infant amino acid divergence within Nef, Gag and Pol were identified, suggesting modest fitness cost with many CD8 mutations. HIV-infected Jamaican children are surviving into adolescence and adulthood, as a result of increased public access to ART and improved collaborative capacity in ART management. Successful transition of HIV-infected children through adolescence into adulthood requires a strong multidisciplinary team approach, including long-term ART management addressing non-adherence, drug resistance and toxicity, treatment failure and limited options for second line and salvage therapy, while attending to their sexual and reproductive health, psychosocial, educational and vocational issues and palliative care. CONCLUSION: Over the past nine years, Jamaica has made excellent strides to eliminate vertically transmitted HIV/AIDS, while reducing the HIV-attributable morbidity and mortality in pregnant women and in HIV-infected children. Continued successful transition of HIV-infected children through adolescence into adulthood will require a strong multidisciplinary team approach.

ANTECEDENTES Y MÉTODOS: A fin de celebrar el 50 aniversario de Jamaica tras recibir la independencia de Gran Bretaña, resumimos nuestra investigación colaborativa publicada sobre la prevención, tratamiento y cuidado del VIH/SIDA pediátrico, perinatal y juvenil en Jamaica. RESULTADOS: El acceso público a la terapia antiretroviral (TAR) en Jamaica ha mostrado que una estrategia "test and treat" asociada con el "tratamiento para la prevención" funciona de manera efectiva con mujeres embarazadas infectadas por VIH, reduciendo la morbilidad y la mortalidad atribuibles al VIH, y disminuyendo las tasas de transmisión madre a niño (MTCT) a < 2% en toda la isla. Estas mujeres experimentan un estrés psicosocial considerable, y las intervenciones aplicadas están ayudándolas a mejorar su calidad de vida. Los niños expuestos e infectados por el VIH provienen de familias numerosas con altas tasas de embarazos adolescentes y considerables retos financieros. Se trata pues de familias que necesitan intervenciones sostenidas. Los infantes jamaicanos expuestos pero no infectados por el VIH tienen tasas más altas de infecciones adquiridas en la comunidad - incluyendo infecciones de las vías respiratorias bajas, sepsis y gastroenteritis - en comparación con los controles comunitarios, si bien sus tasas de crecimiento eran normales. Al evaluar la capacidad de replicación, el control viral, y los resultados clínicos tras la transmisión vertical en pares madre-infante jamaicanos, se halló que el HLA-B57 confería la ventaja de restringir la replicación del VIH mediante la conducción y mantenimiento de una mutación atenuante de la aptitud adaptativa (fitness) en p-24 gag. Las secuencias virales de 52 pares jamaicanos MTCT fueron comparadas, y se identificaron 1475 sitios de divergencia de aminoácido de madre-infante dentro de nef, gag y pol, lo cual sugiere un costo modesto de aptitud adaptativa con muchas mutaciones de CD8. Los niños jamaicanos infectados por VIH están sobreviviendo hasta llegar a ser adolescentes o adultos, como resultado del aumento del acceso público a la TAR, y al mejoramiento de capacidad colaborativa en el tratamiento de TAR. La transición exitosa de niños infectados con VIH a través de la adolescencia hasta la adultez requiere un enfoque multidisciplinarlo en equipo, incluyendo el tratamiento de TAR a largo plazo. Dicho tratamiento se dirige a la no adherencia, la resistencia a los medicamentos y la toxicidad, el fracaso del tratamiento y opciones limitadas para las terapias de segunda línea y de salvamento, a la par que se atiende a la salud reproductiva y sexual de los pacientes, a los problemas vocacionales, educacionales y psicosociales, y el cuidado paliativo. CONCLUSIÓN: En los últimos nueve años, Jamaica ha dado pasos extraordinarios para eliminar la transmisión vertical del VIH/SIDA, reduciendo la morbilidad y la mortalidad atribuibles al VIH en mujeres embarazadas y en niños infectados por VIH. La transición exitosa continuada de los niños infectados por VIH a través de la adolescencia hasta la adultez requerirá un fuerte enfoque multidisciplinarlo en equipo.

Knowledge of HIV and its transmission by women living with HIV/AIDS (WLWHA) attending HIV clinic in lagos university teaching hospital (Luth), Nigeria.

The scourge of HIV/AIDS is a serious problem that cannot be overemphasized. Half of all HIV infections occur in women in Africa. Young women are particularly at risk and they are the child-bearing population. About 90% of MTCT infections occur in Africa. MTCT of HIV can occur at any stage of pregnancy. The study was designed to be a baseline survey which would help document the knowledge of Women living with HIV/AIDS and its transmission modes and the PMTCT programme of the HIV Clinic in the Lagos University Teaching Hospital can be used as template for future work. A survey of women attending the HIV Clinic in the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idiaraba (LUTH) was carried out. Pretested questionnaires were administered to the target population at the HIV Clinic to document their knowledge of HIV and its transmission including awareness of the PMTCT services in the hospital. The results obtained revealed that though many of them are knowledgeable about the modes of transmission of HIV, most of them do not know of the existence of a PMTCT service in the hospital. It can be concluded that respondents in this survey were knowledgeable about HIV and the ways it can be transmitted. The study recommends that staff of the HIV Clinic should be involved in counseling PLWHAs, especially WLWHAs and informing them about all the service components available in the Clinic so that clients that may need these services are already aware and can utilize it as needed.

An analysis of HIV test results among pregnant women in Henan province in 2005-2007 / 中国艾滋病性病

Objective To understand the HIV infection status among pregnant women in Henan province and provide basis for preventing mother to child transmission of AIDS.Methods The HIV-test results obtained from January 2005 to May 2007 among pregnant woman in 31 counties(districts)with relatively high HIV prevalence were analyzed.Results A total of 720 605 pregnant woman were tested for HIV antibody,of whom 541 were identified HIV positive and the HIV-positive rate was 0.08%.Of the 364 HIV positive pregnant women 223(61.26%)decided voluntarily to terminate pregnancy,while 136(37.88%)chose to continue with their pregnancy,and the proportion of HIV positive pregnant women who continued with the pregnancy in the 3 different years was 31.51%(46/146),36.31%(57/157)and 54.10%(33/61),respectively,showing an yearly rising trend.Of the 284 HIV positive mothers 250(88.03%)received PMTCT intervention.Conclusion The rate of PMTCT in HIV-positive pregnant women can be further improved by increasing HIV testing among pregnant women and HIV positive women of child bearing age and by early identifying and managing them.