Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate care rendered to HIV positive women during the first six weeks of postpartum. Quantitative, descriptive, cross sectional and analytic study was conducted to investigate postnatal care services provided to HIV positive mothers.Methods: Data collection was done using structured questionnaires. A total of 372 respondents participated in the study. Descriptive data analysis was used; Epi info version 3.5.1 software was used for data entering and analysis. Results:The results of the study highlighted that the quality of immediate postnatal care (PNC) was com-promised: only 44.9% (n=167) had their temperature measured, 26.6% (n=99) had their pulse rate measured, about half 53.2% (n=198) were physically assessed following childbirth. Whereas, all the health facilities (100%) had the basic equipment for the provision of quality immediate PNC. Conclusion:The study reveals compromised PNC services provided to HIV positive mothers during the immediate postpartum. It had also documented gaps in the delivery of quality PNC to this special group. Recommendations:The researchers recommend that the Sexual Reproductive Health Programme within the MoH conduct training needs assessment and skills audit in collaboration with partners, midwifery schools and regulatory bodies to provide evidence-based in-service training and/or specialised trainings in PNC to ensure that a competent midwifery workforce is maintained.
Background: Maternal mortality and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continue to be major challenges to the Kingdom of Swaziland. In the past, the government introduced focused antenatal care and integrated it with national strategies to reduce maternal mortality and the mother-to-child transmission of HIV. It was anticipated that individualised and integrated principles guiding the focused antenatal care model would enhance the quality of care received by pregnant women, consequently leading to high utilisation of the antenatal care services, a low rate of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and better pregnancy outcomes. Method: The study used a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory design, with individual semi-structured, face-to-face interviews. A total of 18 interviews were conducted with 18 HIV-positive pregnant women who attended at least two antenatal care visits at a regional referral hospital. Results: Seven potential barriers emerged from the thematic comparative content analysis of the participants' descriptions. These were long waiting hours, poor equipment, nonadherence by the nurses with the working hours, fragmented care, lack of privacy, the length of time spent with health professionals, and inadequate health education. Conclusion: It is essential for healthcare providers to understand and address the factors which are viewed by HIV-positive pregnant women as being potential barriers to the use of focused antenatal care.
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