[Moving from prevention to elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV before 2015, an unrealistic objective? Social stakes in Senegal]

Abstract

In 2010, international agencies began to promote the elimination of mother-to-child HIV transmission (EMTCT) in 2015 by proposing a new preventive strategy based on the extensive use of antiretrovirals. For a country like Senegal where the epidemic is considered to be concentrated, since prevalence is beyond 1%, and where the prevention program was fully applied to only 7 to 15% of children exposed to HIV, the objective is ambitious. The pharmacological efficacy of antiretrovirals will not be sufficient if the experience of actors in the field about the social aspects and the acceptability of the program to women are not considered. The aim of this article is to describe the social issues on the basis of two studies conducted in the region of Dakar (an exploratory study of the effects of the new prevention strategies and a study of the experience of patients receiving antiretroviral treatment for 10 years). The results reveal the main issues: community prevention showed its limits at the stage of access to the program and test, which suggests the importance of strategies to promote awareness and prevention that are focused on women; retention depends highly on the attitudes of health workers and on the role of peer counselors, but the integration of HIV testing and treatment in reproductive health services is not fully established; ambivalent perceptions of antiretrovirals complicate adherence; and finally, the organization of health services hinders a family approach of prevention. These results are innovative, since most publications on this topic concern southern and east Africa.