Involve men in the elimination of mother-to-child transmission in Uganda

Aug 20, 2015

On August 28, 2015 Uganda will be launching its 10th sub-regional campaign for elimination of mother to child transmission (eMTCT) in central region.

By Gerald Pande

On August 28, 2015 Uganda will be launching its 10th sub-regional campaign for elimination of mother to child transmission (eMTCT) in central region.


This comes three years after Uganda made a move by adopting a strategy geared towards eMTCT in October 2012 and nominating the First Lady of the Republic of Uganda, Hon. Janet Kataaha Museveni as the Champion for the National EMTCT campaign. Since March 2013, with the initial launch in Ntungamo District, the First Lady embarked on regional campaigns that have been successfully held in nine regions of Uganda.

In these campaigns everyone is called up to take responsibility and actively participate in the fight against HIV/AIDS and eMTCT. The men are particularly appealed to support their spouses to go for antenatal visits and take their medicines according to health workers advice.

This appeal to men is appropriate given the fact that they often influence decision making that promote women and children’s rights and the entire family health outcome. As a fact, every week, 570 young women aged 15-24 years get infected with HIV in Uganda. This puts Uganda second to South Africa where 2363 young women get infected with HIV every week. Other countries in Africa have relatively lower infectivity rates - 491 for Tanzania, 468 for Kenya, and only 25 for Rwanda.

Uganda is currently ranked 7th among the countries contributing to high burden of vertical transmission of HIV. This is attributed to the high population growth rate of 3.03%, high fertility rate of 6.2%, low contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) of 34% and high prevalence of HIV among women of reproductive age at 8.3%.

Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (MTCT) is virtually the only way that children acquire HIV infection in situations where infection control standards, precautions and safe blood transfusion are practiced. According to WHO, without any interventions for prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV, the risk of a baby acquiring HIV infection is 15-45 %.

The Uganda country data shows that in 2012, without virtual Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (eMTCT) services, up to 27,000 children would be born with HIV annually, while 1,560 HIV-positive mothers would die each year. However, with the advent of the new enthusiasm with the Accelerated Plan for eMTCT and adaptation of the single pill therapy for mothers, the number of children born with HIV has drastically reduced to 8000 in 2014 and mothers are now living longer and leading more healthier lives.

Despite these achievements, some challenges do exist. Some of these factors which are hindering   elimination of mother to child transmission in Uganda are - weak tracking of mother-baby pairs, compounded by weak data management and reporting system. There is also inadequate human resource in terms of numbers, skills and training and lack of necessary drugs and commodities.

Above all, there is still inadequate involvement of men in eMTCT services. Therefore if Uganda is to achieve zero new HIV infections in babies born to HIV positive mothers which will move towards having an HIV Free Generation by 2020, an effective eMTCT program which involves all stakeholders including men and communities in collaboration with Implementing Partners and funding agencies must be put in place and strengthened.


The writer is a Fellow, with the MakSPH-MoH-CDC Public Health Fellowship Program – Field Epidemiology Track, attached to the AIDS  Control Program, Ministry of Health
 

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