The bold branding of HIV care centres in Kenyan hospitals stops many HIV-positive pregnant women from accessing vital HIV treatment that could protect their children from infection for fear of stigma.
"Many mothers were coming to the hospital and once referred to the comprehensive care centre [CCC] because they had tested HIV-positive, they just disappear - many of them ended up delivering HIV-infected babies," said Zaituni Ombuku, a prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) nurse at the Western Provincial General Hospital in Kakamega, in Kenya's Western Province.
Mary Nabwire is one such mother; she told IRIN/PlusNews she was too afraid of being spotted by neighbours to go to the CCC when directed by the antenatal care nurse. "When people see you go there, they just know you are sick with HIV," she said. "I just disappeared and when it was time to give birth, I went to a [a traditional birth attendant]."
Nabwire's child is HIV-positive; since his birth, however, her maternal and child health clinic has started providing HIV services and maternal health services under the same roof, making it more comfortable for her to get treatment for herself and her child. The clinic is part of a programme in western Kenya that aims to keep more mothers in care by integrating maternal and child health services with HIV services.
"It is better because they just give me everything at this clinic and nobody knows my status except them and my husband," she said.
Results
According to Hadija Naliya, nursing officer in charge of the maternal and child health clinic at Western Provincial General Hospital, the integration has greatly increased the level of retention of both mothers and their children in Kakamega.
"The idea is to make the maternal and child health clinics a one-stop shop for the family - even fathers are provided these services should they need it," she said.
The clinics provide counselling, testing, reproductive health services, nutritional support and initiation on treatment and care to parents and children.
Fourteen health facilities in Western Province have so far been integrated through an initiative by the government, Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric AIDS Foundation and the US government-supported AIDS, Population and Health Integrated Assistance II (APHIA II).
According to Beatrice Misoga, PMTCT officer at the APHIA II Western, weaknesses within the referral system in government health facilities often make PMTCT services ineffective. "When you integrate services it makes it easy to make follow-ups, keep client records and most importantly, it becomes the best way to deal with stigma, which stops mothers from seeking PMTCT services," she said.
"When you look at that compared to the high dropout rates that we experienced in earlier years, you realize integration works," said the hospital's Ombuku.
Training
The capacity of health personnel at the maternal and child health clinic has also been strengthened through HIV and reproductive health training.
"It would be pointless to integrate services and leave the health workers as they were. We initiated training for them on counselling, testing, nutritional issues and treatment to make them more effective and as a way of boosting their morale," said APHIA II's Misoga.
An added benefit of service integration is a reduced workload for over-burdened staff at the CCCs, say the medical workers.
The Kenyan government estimates about 32,000 babies are infected with HIV at birth every year. Integration of maternal and child health is a major part of the country's plan to reduce mother-to-child transmission to below 5 percent of the 100,000 mothers who test positive annually.
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"Many mothers were coming to the hospital and once referred to the comprehensive care centre [CCC] because they had tested HIV-positive, they just disappear - many of them ended up delivering HIV-infected babies," said Zaituni Ombuku, a prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) nurse at the Western Provincial General Hospital in Kakamega, in Kenya's Western Province.
Mary Nabwire is one such mother; she told IRIN/PlusNews she was too afraid of being spotted by neighbours to go to the CCC when directed by the antenatal care nurse. "When people see you go there, they just know you are sick with HIV," she said. "I just disappeared and when it was time to give birth, I went to a [a traditional birth attendant]."
Nabwire's child is HIV-positive; since his birth, however, her maternal and child health clinic has started providing HIV services and maternal health services under the same roof, making it more comfortable for her to get treatment for herself and her child. The clinic is part of a programme in western Kenya that aims to keep more mothers in care by integrating maternal and child health services with HIV services.
"It is better because they just give me everything at this clinic and nobody knows my status except them and my husband," she said.
Results
According to Hadija Naliya, nursing officer in charge of the maternal and child health clinic at Western Provincial General Hospital, the integration has greatly increased the level of retention of both mothers and their children in Kakamega.
"The idea is to make the maternal and child health clinics a one-stop shop for the family - even fathers are provided these services should they need it," she said.
The clinics provide counselling, testing, reproductive health services, nutritional support and initiation on treatment and care to parents and children.
Fourteen health facilities in Western Province have so far been integrated through an initiative by the government, Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric AIDS Foundation and the US government-supported AIDS, Population and Health Integrated Assistance II (APHIA II).
According to Beatrice Misoga, PMTCT officer at the APHIA II Western, weaknesses within the referral system in government health facilities often make PMTCT services ineffective. "When you integrate services it makes it easy to make follow-ups, keep client records and most importantly, it becomes the best way to deal with stigma, which stops mothers from seeking PMTCT services," she said.
"When you look at that compared to the high dropout rates that we experienced in earlier years, you realize integration works," said the hospital's Ombuku.
Training
The capacity of health personnel at the maternal and child health clinic has also been strengthened through HIV and reproductive health training.
"It would be pointless to integrate services and leave the health workers as they were. We initiated training for them on counselling, testing, nutritional issues and treatment to make them more effective and as a way of boosting their morale," said APHIA II's Misoga.
An added benefit of service integration is a reduced workload for over-burdened staff at the CCCs, say the medical workers.
The Kenyan government estimates about 32,000 babies are infected with HIV at birth every year. Integration of maternal and child health is a major part of the country's plan to reduce mother-to-child transmission to below 5 percent of the 100,000 mothers who test positive annually.
ko/kr/mw
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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