Introduction:
Prevention of mother-to-child-transmission of HIV is a priority public health problem
in Africa as pregnant women and their children are the most vulnerable. In South
Africa, a prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programme
has been implemented in antenatal clinics to reduce paediatric HIV/AIDS. It is
necessary to assess the uptake of this programme by pregnant women.
Objectives
The purpose of this study was to determine the uptake of the PMTCT programme in
the antenatal clinics of Sedibeng district. Using data coming from all the antenatal
clinics (ANC) at a primary health care levelin Sedibeng for 2005 and 2006, we
determined the proportion of ANC attendees who accepted to be counselled, the
proportion of these who accepted to be tested for HIV, the proportion of these who
came back for results and the proportion who were HIV positive. Nevirapine (NVP)uptake was determined as well among HIV positive women and babies born to HIV
positive women.
Methods
Data collection was by a record review of PMTCT records from all antenatal clinics
in the district. To determine maternal uptake of PMTCT, data were extracted from
antenatal clinics monthly collation sheets for 2005 and 2006. Nevirapine uptake for
the babies born to HIV positive mothers was determined in one facility: data were v -
collected in the midwife obstetric unit of the community health centre from both the
Nevirapine register and the mothers’ delivery records.
Results
A total of 8010 women attended in Sedibeng antenatal clinics in 2005 and 10217 in
2006. In 2005 95 % of attendee women accepted to be counselled among whom 91%
accepted to be tested for HIV. In 2006 93% women accepted to be counselled among
whom 91% accepted to be tested. Almost all tested women came back for results:
99% came back for results in 2005 and 98% in 2006. The proportion of HIV positive
women in the attendees population was 23% in 2005 and 24% in 2006. Nevirapine
was dispensed to only 600 per 1000 HIV positive women in 2005 and 539 per 1000
HIV positive women in 2006. From June 2005 to May 2006 only 59% of babies born
to an HIV positive mother received NVP.
Discussion and conclusion
The study showed a good uptake of voluntary counselling and HIV testing in
Sedibeng district antenatal clinics. But a low proportion of HIV positive women and
HIV-exposed babies received NVP. There was probably a loss of follow up of
women between ANC visits and delivery. Nevirapine uptake must be improved in
Sedibeng antenatal clinics and further investigations need to be done to understand
the factors influencing uptake.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/6911 |
| Date | 29 April 2009 |
| Creators | Berthet, Emilie |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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