08 Aug 2019

Failure by males to test for HIV with their expectant partners is undoing efforts to reduce sexually transmitted infections.

This is according to a South East South Sub-district District Health Management Team (DHMT) report for April to June.

It says out of 271 pregnant mothers who tested, only 96 were able to have their partners testes.

The low numbers of males who supported their partners through testing were also recorded between January and March, as only 99 males tested against 307 pregnancies recorded.

The report states that the implication for such low numbers of male involvement could be the risk of HIV transmission.

It therefore calls for more efforts to encourage male involvement in the Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission (PMTCT).

Health facility managers have been tasked with encouraging pregnant mothers to have their partners tested for the virus.

Overall, the report states that 98.9 per cent of pregnant mothers tested for HIV in all facilities while only three women missed testing.

During the same period, the sub district reported a case of one child who tested HIV positive at week six. The mother was not on any programme.

Counseling and enrollment of the mother and child are reported to be ongoing.

The DHMT report stresses the  need for adherence to PMTCT guidelines as well as continued PMTCT education with emphasis on testing, enrolling and adherence.

Despite the child infection setback, the report says the PMTCT programme uptake  is doing well in the sub district as all women who tested positive had been initiated into the scheme.

According to the report, the same was recorded for the month of January to March which could lead to improved health status.

It says there is continuous counseling on medication adherence and education on PMTCT in all facilities.
 

The report further states that during the period all pregnant women with known HIV positive status were already enrolled on the Treat All Strategy.
 

However, it stresses the need to strengthen access to all available family planning methods including emergency contraceptives.

Another intervention for repeated pregnancies for women with known HIV status is to improve education on the effects of such a scenario. ENDS