Assessment of male partner involvement in prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV amongst HIV-positive women in Jos, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Mother to child transmission (MTCT) of HIV is still a crucial problem in Nigeria. Due to sociocultural/economic factors, a woman's decision to access and adhere to PMTCT services may depend on her male partner as the key decision maker. Male partner involvement (MPI) may thus influence the uptake of PMTCT and ultimately impact on the HIV status of a baby born to the couple. This study assessed MPI in PMTCT and impact on HIV status of babies delivered by participants.
Method: In a hospital-based cross sectional study, 123 HIVpositive women who had accessed PMTCT services were interviewed to determine their MPI in PMTCT and their babies' HIV status at 18 months. Data was analyzed using statistical package for social Science, Version 20.
Results: Prevalence of MPI was 80.5%, with a mean score of 6.7 + 0.6 for positive responses/adherence to PMTCT parameters. There was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of male partners involved in PMTCT and those who were not (p = < 0.0001). All babies tested negative to HIV at 18 months.
Conclusion: The study showed a high rate of male partner involvement and a high positive response/adherence to PMTCT parameters among the men who were involved. However, there was no MTCT of HIV among the babies. MPI may have some contribution to this but needs to be further investigated in future studies.

Keywords: Male partners, PMTCT, HIV-positive women, babies