HIV/Maternal health integration

The Sub-Saharan Africa region still remains the epicentre of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. With regards to new paediatric HIV infections, almost 90% of new HIV infections are among children (aged 0-14 years), largely through mother to child transmission. Male Partner Involvement in Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission programmes is now strongly advocated as being key in improving infant outcomes. This study describes the role of Male Partner Involvement on infant HIV infection and mortality survival in the first year among HIV-exposed infants born from HIV positive mothers.

Uganda's maternal and newborn mortality remains high at 336 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births and 27 newborn deaths per 1,000 live births. The Saving Mothers, Giving Life (SMGL) initiative launched in 2012 by the U.S. government and partners, with funding from the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, focused on reducing maternal and newborn deaths in Uganda and Zambia by addressing the 3 major delays associated with maternal and newborn deaths. In Uganda, SMGL was implemented in 2 phases. Phase 1 was a proof-of-concept demonstration in 4 districts of Western Uganda (2012 to 2014). Phase 2 involved scaling up best practices from Phase 1 to new sites in Northern Uganda (2014 to 2017).

One of the factors linked to South Africa's relatively high maternal mortality ratio is late utilization of antenatal care (ANC). Early utilization is especially important in South Africa due to the high HIV prevalence amongst pregnant women. This study examined the impact of a package intervention, consisting of an incentive called the Thula Baba Box (TBB) and a community health worker (CHW) programme, on early utilization of ANC.

The objective of this study was to investigate the causes and covariates of late antenatal care access in South Africa.

Contraceptive adherence during acute and recent HIV-1 infection is important to maternal and child health given the elevated risk of vertical HIV-1 transmission and additional complications of pregnancy. Injectable contraception (IC) is the most common non-barrier modern contraception method used in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Adherence to IC after HIV-1 seroconversion is not well understood.

Linear growth retardation is the most dominant nutritional problem globally. We aimed to describe linear growth trajectory among infants under 2 years of age using the WHO growth velocity standards.

Psychosocial risks during pregnancy impact maternal health in resource-limited settings, and HIV-positive women often bear a heavy burden of these factors. This study sought to use network modeling to characterize co-occurring psychosocial risks to maternal and child health among at-risk pregnant women.