Eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV in Arua District through mother–baby–pair points

Abstract

Mother-to-child transmission is the leading cause of HIV infection in children. Without treatment, half of these HIV infected children die before their second birthday. This study was carried out to establish the contribution of mother-baby-pair points approach to eMTCT outcomes in Arua District Uganda. A descriptive and analytical cross sectional study design which employed mixed methods approach was used. 196 HIV positive breast feeding mothers from three government hospitals (Arua Regional Referral Hospital, Adumi Health Center IV and Oli Health Center IV) were interviewed. Data was collected using structured questionnaires, focus group discussions and interviews guides. Majority 168 (85.7%) of the respondents and their babies were enrolled to eMTCT care immediately after delivery and up to 17(8.7%) were enrolled beyond two weeks after delivery. Reasons for enrolment into care included; counseling before, during and after pregnancy on the importance of adherence to ART, early enrolment into care and delivery in a health facility. Most of the babies enrolled in mother-baby-points were HIV sero-negative (75.5%) with only 6.6% of them being sero-positive, thus signifying the contribution of mother-baby-points towards eliminating mother-child-transmission of HIV. Age of mothers was associated with retention on eMTCT care (χ2 (5) =11.19, p=0.048). Again, having had any form of education on eMTCT was associated with retention on eMTCT care (p=0.001). In conclusion, the degree of enrollment in to eMTCT care was high but some mothers who still enrolled late. This affects early infant diagnosis, uptake of eMTCT services and retention of mothers and their infants.