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. 2018 Apr 10;15(1):60.
doi: 10.1186/s12978-018-0502-y.

Ebola virus disease outbreak in Guinea: what effects on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV services?

Niouma Nestor Leno  1   2 , Alexandre Delamou  3   4   5 , Youssouf Koita  6 , Thierno Souleymane Diallo  7 , Abdoulaye Kaba  8 , Therese Delvaux  5 , Wim Van Damme  5 , Marie Laga  5
Affiliations

Ebola virus disease outbreak in Guinea: what effects on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV services?

Niouma Nestor Leno et al. Reprod Health. .

Abstract

Background: An unprecedented epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD) affected Guinea in 2014 and 2015. It weakened the already fragile Guinean health system. This study aimed to assess the effects of the outbreak on Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services in 2014.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional retrospective study. Data was collected from 60 public health centers (30 in the EVD affected areas and 30 in the unaffected areas). The comparison of PMTCT indicators between the period before Ebola (2013) and during Ebola (2014) was done using the t- test for the means and the Chi-square test for the proportions.

Results: This study showed a substantial and significant reduction in the mean number of antenatal care visits (ANC) in the affected localities, 1617 ± 53 in 2013 versus 1065 ± 29 in 2014, p = 0.0004. This would represent 41% drop in health facilities' performance. On the other hand, in the unaffected localities, the fall was not significant. The same observations were made about the number of HIV tests performed for pregnant women and the number of HIV positive pregnant women initiating ARVs. The study also noted an increase in the proportion of women tested HIV+ but who did not receive ARVs (12% in 2013 versus 44% in 2014) and HIV+ pregnant women who delivered at home (18% in 2014 versus 7% in 2013).

Conclusion: This study showed that PMTCT services, which are one of the key services to improve maternal and child health, were affected in Guinea during this Ebola outbreak in 2014 compared to 2013.

Keywords: Ebola; Effects; Guinea; Health system; PMTCT.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study received administrative authorization from the Ministry of Health of Guinea. All the data collected were anonymous and accessible only by the staff involved in the study.

Consent for publication

The protocol of this study doesn’t include data from an individual person; therefore, consent to publication is not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
a Comparison of the monthly change in the number of antenatal visits between 2013 and 2014 in 30 PMTCT facilities in EVD affected areas in 2014, Guinea. b Comparison of the monthly change in the number of antenatal visits between 2013 and 2014 in 30 PMTCT facilities in non EVD affected areas in 2014, Guinea
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
a Comparison of the proportion of HIV-positive pregnant women who initiated ARVs between 2013 and 2014, stratified by EVD status of the study areas, Guinea. b Comparison of the proportion of HIV-positive pregnant women who were put on ARVs between 2013 and 2014, stratified by the EVD status of the study areas, Guinea
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Comparison of the proportion of HIV-infected pregnant women who gave birth at home (outside a health facility) between 2013 and 2014, stratified by the EVD status of the study areas, Guinea
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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