Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2004 Dec;4(3):155-9.

Likely stakeholders in the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS in Blantyre, Malawi

Eyob Tadesse  1 , Adamson S Muula, Humphreys Misiri
Affiliations

Likely stakeholders in the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS in Blantyre, Malawi

Eyob Tadesse et al. Afr Health Sci. 2004 Dec.

Abstract

Objectives: To determine potential partners for pregnant women in the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV and to determine pregnant women's perceptions towards selected potential HIV prevention efforts.

Design: Cross sectional, questionnaire-administered study.

Setting: Ante-natal clinics of eleven public health centers and the major referral and university teaching hospital of Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre, Malawi.

Subjects: A total of 321 pregnant women attending ante-natal clinics.

Results: Antenatal women in Blantyre, Malawi obtain health information on HIV/AIDS from the radio (96.3%), health workers (82.2%), religious gatherings (66.7%), friends (54.8%) and newspapers (39.3%). The majority intend to be accompanied by own mother and sister for delivery (52.4% and 15.4% respectively). Almost all (99%) planned to breast feed with 91.8% reporting an intended breastfeeding period of at least 6 months. About 97% of married women reported desire to tell spouse in case of HIV sero-positive results while only 65.1% had ever discussed about HIV with spouse, and only 5.2% had ever attended antenatal clinic with spouse. Whether woman had ever discussed about HIV/AIDS with spouse or not did not influence desire to disclose HIV status to spouse.

Conclusion: Close relatives, spouse and the media are important stakeholders in the health of pregnant women. Programs aimed at prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV should give serious consideration to these partners.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. UNAIDS / WHO, author. AIDS Epidemic Update, December 2002. Geneva, Switzerland: 2001. Dec, p. 3.
    1. UNAIDS / WHO Working Group on Global HIV/AIDS and STI Surveillance, author. Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic 2002. Geneva, Switzerland: 2002. Table of country-specific HIV/AIDS estimates and data, end 2001; pp. 190–193.
    1. Kotler DP. Human immunodeficiency virus and pregnancy. Gastroenterol Clin North Am. 2003;32(1):437–448. - PubMed
    1. Semba RD. Mastitis and transmission of human immunodeficiency virus through breast milk. Ann NY Acad Sci. 2000;918:156–162. - PubMed
    1. Semba RD, Kumwenda N, Hoover DR, et al. Human immunododeficiency virus load in breastmilk, mastistis and mother to child transmission of Human Immunodeficiency virus type 1. J Infect Dis. 2000;181(2):800–801. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources