Adolescent Access to Care and Risk of Early Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission

Abstract

Interventions that appeal to adolescents and initiate sexual and reproductive health care early should be tested in low- and middle-income settings to reduce differential service uptake and infant outcomes between adolescent and adult mothers.

“My partner was not fond of using condoms and I was not on contraception”: understanding adolescent mothers’ perspectives of sexual risk behaviour in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

“…Keywords: Adolescent pregnancy, Sexual risk behaviour, Transactional sex, HIV, Sexual and reproductive health Background Adolescent pregnancy has been a major area of interest in the field of public health [1] and the issue of adolescent childbearing has received critical attention due to the increased risk of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes [1]. Furthermore, the debate about adolescents' sexual risk behaviour has gained prominence as findings have demonstrated that adolescent girls between 15 and 19 years of age account for 62% of new HIV infections and this group gives birth to 16 million infants in the Caribbean and African regions [2]. Of the two million adolescents living with HIV, 82% live in sub-Saharan Africa.…”

First social impact bond for the SAMRC: A novel financing strategy to address the health and social challenges facing adolescent girls and young women in South Africa

“…Preliminary work by the SAMRC has shown that HIV seroconversion correlates with unintended pregnancies [27] and school completion [28] and that HIV infection is associated with poor outcomes for unintended pregnancies [29,30] and poor educational outcomes. A Statistics South Africa report demonstrated that school attendance declined from 85% in adolescents without children to 51% in adolescents who have had a child.…”

Understanding the uptake of prevention of mother-to-child transmission services among adolescent girls in Sub-Saharan Africa: a review of literature

“…Three studies assessed family planning among adolescents (Ramraj et al, 2018;Ronen et al, 2017;Woldesenbet et al, 2015); two of these reported on data from three facility-based national surveys among postnatal women between 2010 and 2013 in South Africa and found significantly lower rates of planned pregnancy amongst adolescent mothers <20 years. Ramraj et al found that rates of planned pregnancy were lower among adolescents compared to their adult counterparts; 14.4% (12.5-16.5) vs. 43.9% (42-45.9); p < .0001 in 2010, 14.4% (12.3-16.8) vs. 43.9% (40.9-44.8); p < .0001 in 2011-2012, and 15.2% (13-17.9) vs. 42.8% (40.9-44.6); p < .0001 in 2012-2013 (Ramraj et al, 2018). A separate analysis of the 2010 survey alone found higher rates of unplanned pregnancy among adolescent mothers (85.2%) compared to older women (55.5%), p = 0.0001 (Woldesenbet et al, 2015).…”

“…Overall, seven studies assessed ANC attendance (Fatti, Shaikh, Eley, Jackson, & Grimwood, 2014;Helleringer, 2017;Horwood et al, 2013;Musarandega et al, 2017;Ramraj et al, 2018;Ronen et al, 2017;Woldesenbet et al, 2015); six compared timing of ANC and five compared frequency of ANC visits. Four of the six studies (Fatti et al, 2014;Helleringer, 2017;Musarandega et al, 2017;Ramraj et al, 2018;Ronen et al, 2017;Woldesenbet et al, 2015) that compared timing of ANC attendance found that adolescents attended ANC either earlier or at a comparable gestational age than adults, while two studies described mixed results. Musaradenga et al found that compared to older women, adolescents ≤19 years were more likely to present to ANC before 14 weeks gestational age (adjusted relative risk (aRR) = 1.34; 1.22-1.47) in primary health centres in Zimbabwe (Musarandega et al, 2017).…”