Review Of Interventions To Prevent Mother –To- Child Transmission And Seroprevalence Of Hiv Infection Among Paturients Advent To The Era Of Antiretroviral Therapy In Nigeria- Experienec From A Mission Hospital In Benin City, Nigeria

Abstract

While the wide use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and non-breastfeeding of the infants of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected mothers revolutionized the prevention of vertical transmission (VT), denial, complacency and ineptitude marked the initial official reactions to the epidemic in Nigeria. Before 2002, there were no national guidelines and ART in Nigeria. The initial national HIV control responses were health sector–/ public health facility-based. Peripheral/non-governmental hospital responses are not well documented and the millennium year HIV seroprevalence in Nigeria is unknown. The objective of this study was to determine the initial responses to prevent VT and the millennium year HIV seroprevalence in a non-governmental hospital; the Saint Philomena Catholic Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria. This was a retrospective study. It involved in-depth interview of the hospital\'s relevant medical staff and a review of the delivery register, laboratory records and the case notes of all women that delivered in the facility for their HIV serostatus from January 1 through December 31, 2000. The result showed that 1,247 women had intrapartum counselling while 1,024 (82.1%) accepted and had documented HIV test results. The case notes of 1.2% women were not accessible while 16.7% of the women declined to test. The HIV seroprevalence was 5.8% with progressive quarterly increase. We conclude that the HIV prevalence was comparable to the national prevalence from sentinel surveys and the initial interventions were limited by lack of antiretroviral drugs. We suggest the extension of the free obstetric care, ART and breast milk substitutes being provided HIV infected mothers by the Federal Government of Nigeria to this mission and similar hospitals in the country to meet the national millennium development goals.

Keywords: Review, Interventions, HIV prevalence, ART, Era, PMTCT, millennium-year

Annals of Biomedical Sciences Vol. 6 (2) 2007: pp. 41-52