INVESTIGATION ON THE KNOWLEDGE ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES OF

MIDWIVES ABOUT THE MANAGEMENT AND PREVENTION OF MOTHER TO

CHILD TRANSMISSION (PMTCT) OF HIV AMONG POSITIVE PREGNANT
WOMEN IN HD BONASSAMA

DEFINITION OF TERMS

KNOWLEDGE: Facts,information,and skills acquired through experience or education ,the

theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.

ATTITUDE: A settled way of thinking or feeling about something.

PRACTICE:The actual application or use of an idea,belief, or a method,as opposed to

theories related to it .

MIDWIFE:A person ,typically a woman,who is trained to assist women from conception to

childbirth.

MANAGEMENT:The process of dealing with or controlling things or people.

PREVENTION:The action of stopping something from happening or arising.

MOTHER: A woman who had or has a child or children.

CHILD :A young human being below te age of puberty or below the legal age of majority.

CONTAMINATION:The action or state of making or being made impure by polluting or

poisoning.

HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus that attacks the body's immune system

PREGNANT WOMAN :A women that carries an offspring from 1week to 40weeks

gestation.

INTRODUCTION

What is mother-to-child transmission ? Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) is when an

HIV-infected woman passes the virus to her baby. This can occur during pregnancy, labour
and delivery, or breastfeeding.Without treatment, around 15-30 percent of babies born to
HIV-infected women, will become infected with HIV during pregnancy and delivery. A
further 5-20 percent will become infected through breastfeeding.
 Is MTCT a major problem ? In 2010, around 390,000 children under 15 became infected
with HIV, mainly through mother-to-childtransmission.Vertical transmission of Human
Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) during pregnancy, delivery and breast feeding period
continues to be a major public health problem and constitutes the most important cause of
HIV infection in children less than 15 years old in the world (UNAIDS,2012). Over 90% of
new infections of human immunodeficiency virus in infants and young children occur through
mother-to-child transmission(UNAIDS,2011). In Ethiopia it is estimated that 109,133
children less than 15 years were living with HIV in 2016 and there were an estimated of 2420
new infections each year due to mother-to-child transmission. The reasons for an increasing
mother to child transmission (MTCT) of HIV might include lack of knowledge of mothers on
prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) (UNAIDS,2014).

Knowledge of reproductive age women on prevention of mother-to-child transmission

(MTCT) of HIV plays a major role in limiting the number of children being infected by HIV.
With timely interventions like testing for HIV during pregnancy, safe delivery practices,
preventive anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, and modified infant feeding practices, the risk of a
baby getting HIV infection from an infected mother can be reduced from 20–45% to 2–5%
(WHO/UNAIDS,2010-2011) Therefore maternal knowledge on PMTCT is a corner stone of
effective implementation of the four pronged approach to reduce mother-to-child transmission
of HIV.

Even though there were some studies done at the institution level ; as far as our knowledge is
concerned, there is no evidence about knowledge of women on PMTCT and associated
factors at the community level in Cameroon generally and in the study area particularly.

With scarce availability and accessibility of health institution in Cameroun, significant

number of the population failed to visit the health facility. . Therefore this study was
conducted to identify knowledge of reproductive age women,through midwifery IEC provided
to pregnant women on PMTCT of HIV and associated factors at the community level.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
For the first time, the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is considered
a realistic public health goal and an important part of the campaign to achieve the United
Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4, 5 and 6. The prevention of mother-to-
child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV has played an important role in this campaign and in
ensuring increased maternal and child survival.The global scale-up of PMTCT services is
credited for 52percent worldwide decline in HIV infection among children between 2001-
2012(UNAIDS,2013). With adequate effort, more funding and cloSely monitored progress,
the United Nation program on HIV and AIDS still reported 160,000 new pediatric HIV
infection in 2016(UNAIDS 2016). Despite significant progress the epidemic continous to
challengematernal and pedriatric services in africa, with repercussions on other health
services beyond those directly addressing HIV and AIDS (pubmed 2010)m Reason why the
ressearcher is investigating on the knowledge attitude and practices of midwives about
management of PMTCT among postive pregnant women.