Poor male involvement slowing PMTCT efforts—UNC project

University of North Carolina (UNC) project on Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) has said poor male participation in HIV and Aids activities is slowing efforts to reduce the spread of the pandemic from mothers to children.

Speaking during an awareness meeting recently in Dowa, UNC-funded Lilongwe Medical Relief Fund Trust senior programme officer Tapika Mwafulirwa said some men are still reluctant to escort their pregnant wives to hospitals to check their HIV status.

“We are trying to sensitise communities that going to antenatal clinics is not just for women, especially where there is need to test the blood of the mother. Male involvement is still difficult,” said Mwafulirwa.

Dowa community nurse Melida Kufeyani said they had several cases in the district where pregnant women failed to adhere to antiretroviral therapy (ART) because of their husbands, thereby compromising efforts to prevent transmission of the virus to babies.

“Every pregnant mother is supposed to be tested to check their HIV status because that’s the starting point in PMTCT. Mothers who test positive are immediately put on ART so that they don’t transmit the virus to their babies.

“Some husbands stop their pregnant wives from taking ARVs. Most women also fail to disclose results of their blood tests to their husbands for fear of breaking up their marriages,” said Kufeyani.

Apart from Dowa, Mwafulirwa said they are also implementing the project in Dedza, Lilongwe, Ntcheu and Mchinji.

Meanwhile, Mzimba on Thursday launched PMTCT at Luzi in Traditional Authority Jalavikuwa.

The one-year project is also aimed at encouraging men to accompany their wives when attending antenatal clinic.  

Interact World Wide (IWW) from England is funding the project.

 

(With additional reporting by Edwin Nyirongo)