Background: Early infant diagnosis (EID) is an important strategy of the Prevention of Mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and when implemented in combination with other strategies could eliminate HIV MTCT. We implemented a series of strategic interventions intended to improve EID at 9 Military facilities in Uganda and evaluated their impact on uptake of EID.Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional design was adopted, following-up HIV Exposed Infants (HEI) at the study sites over a 2 year period, and using a data extraction tool to capture4 indicators of EID namely; number of HIV-positive mothers, number of HEI enrolled, number of PCR and rapid tests performed on HEI, and number of HIV-positive results of HEI. Scatter plots and simple linear regression were applied to demonstrate trends in EID uptake and estimate intervention impact over time. Statistical significance was assumed at p<0.05.Results: We established incremental trends in numbers of first PCR (f [1,6]=2.8; p=0.15),third PCR (f [1,6]=8.4; p<0.05), rapid tests (f [1,6]=16.1; p<0.05) performed on HEI, and a modest decline in HIV-positivity among HEI over the study period. The intervention improved retention in PMTCT cascade to 80%, when contrasted with the national average of 70%.Conclusions: We have demonstrated that interventions invoking pre-booking HIV-positive pregnant mothers during antenatal care, follow up of mother-baby pairs using telephone and mentor mothers and integrating EID in immunization programs can improve uptake of EID in a relatively short period, and with a positive impact on EID indicators.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.