Local Perspectives: Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV in Nigeria

By: Toyin Ajao, winner of Women Bloggers Deliver Contest

When I put myself in their shoes, I imagine one of the most difficult feelings experienced by any one of the 200,000 Nigerian pregnant women living with HIV is knowing that the deadly virus could be transmitted to their child without the right care.

An estimated 56,000 infants of the 85,450 at-risk infants contract HIV through mother-to-child transmission annually. HIV can be transmitted to a child during pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding. Combinations of using antiretroviral and other drugs, safe infant feeding practices, and other interventions, however, can help stop the spread.

The state of maternal health in Nigeria further complicates mothers’ abilities to protect their children from contracting HIV. Only 58 percent of pregnant women received any antenatal care and 39 percent had deliveries assisted by skilled birth attendants in 2008. Unsurprisingly, it is often poor and rural women who receive the least—if any—care. As a result, Nigeria has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world (840 deaths for every 100,000 live births) and fails at preventing 50,000 maternal deaths annually.

More pregnant women living with HIV are obtaining services that could help prevent transmission and make them healthier mothers after delivery. The number of health care centers offering services to prevent mother-to-child transmission has increased from 67 in 2004 to 684 in 2010. These health care centers seek to provide voluntary counseling and testing, offer antiretroviral treatment, advise on infant feeding options, and safe deliveries, although quality remains an issue. According to a government survey, the number of pregnant women counseled and tested from HIV has also grown from 18,554 in 2010 to 1.7 million in 2010.

Despite this expansion in coverage, antiretrovirals to prevent transmission reached only 22 percent of pregnant women with HIV in 2009—a long way from the government’s goal of ensuring that 80 percent of all eligible women and men and children receive antiretroviral treatment by 2015. Antiretroviral treatment keeps HIV or AIDS in the body at a low levels and can keep a person from becoming ill for many years if a treatment regimen of taking a combination of drugs daily is followed closely. Adhering to an antiretroviral treatment regimen can help a mother keep her immune system from weakening.

I believe Nigeria needs to do better and reach more pregnant women and mothers living with HIV. I hope the recent shift in government will help improve maternal health services for all women in my country.

http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/local-perspectives-preventing-mother-to-child-transmission-of-hiv-in-nigeri/