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. 2010 May 24;5(5):e10781.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0010781.

Increasing support for contraception as HIV prevention: stakeholder mapping to identify influential individuals and their perceptions

Tricia Petruney  1 , Sarah V Harlan, Michele Lanham, Elizabeth T Robinson
Affiliations

Increasing support for contraception as HIV prevention: stakeholder mapping to identify influential individuals and their perceptions

Tricia Petruney et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Voluntary contraceptive use by HIV-positive women currently prevents more HIV-positive births, at a lower cost, than anti-retroviral drug (ARV) regimens. Despite this evidence, most prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs focus solely on providing ARV prophylaxis to pregnant women and rarely include the prevention of unintended pregnancies among HIV-positive women.

Methodology/principal findings: To strengthen support for family planning as HIV prevention, we systematically identified key individuals in the field of international HIV/AIDS-those who could potentially influence the issue-and sought to determine their perceptions of barriers to and facilitators for implementing this PMTCT strategy. We used a criteria-based approach to determine which HIV/AIDS stakeholders have the most significant impact on HIV/AIDS research, programs, funding and policy and stratified purposive sampling to conduct interviews with a subset of these individuals. The interview findings pointed to obstacles to strengthening linkages between family planning and HIV/AIDS, including the need for: resources to integrate family planning and HIV services, infrastructure or capacity to provide integrated services at the facility level, national leadership and coordination, and targeted advocacy to key decision-makers.

Conclusions/significance: The individuals we identified as having regional or international influence in the field of HIV/AIDS have the ability to leverage an increasingly conducive funding environment and a growing evidence base to address the policy, programmatic and operational challenges to integrating family planning with HIV/AIDS. Fostering greater support for implementing contraception for HIV prevention will require the dedication, collaboration and coordination of many such actors. Our findings can inform a targeted advocacy campaign.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. WHO/UNAIDS strategy for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (see [1]).
Triangle added for emphasis by Family Health International.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization. Strategic Approaches to the Prevention of HIV Infection in Infants: Report of a WHO Meeting. 2002. Presentation at Morges, Switzerland, March 20–22, 2002.
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