Magister Curationis - MCur / The pandemic of HIV is the most severe health challenge affecting children across the world and it is estimated that more than 90% of all HIV infections in children result from Mother to Child Transmissions (MTCT). The global target of <2% MTCT risk of HIV has still not been achieved despite the duration of the implementation of the programme and its great progress. The prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) programme is a programme developed to enable health care practitioners to provide essential care to mothers in order to prevent the transmission of the virus to their infants.

Master of Public Health - MPH / The World Health Organisation recommendations for breastfeeding in the general population, including mothers living with HIV, emphasise breastfeeding within one hour of birth, exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) during the first six months of life, and continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond. However, only 34.8% of infants worldwide are exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life, and as a result, about 1.4 million infants lose their lives due to undernutrition. In South Africa, only 31.6% of infants are exclusively breastfed for the first six months. Despite the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding, many mothers living with HIV do not initiate breastfeeding or discontinue breastfeeding prematurely. It is, therefore, crucial to determine the barriers inhibiting the uptake of EBF and factors promoting mothers living with HIV to adopt exclusive breastfeeding.