Pregnant women's experiences of male partner involvement in the context of prevention of mother-to-child transmission in Khayelitsha, South Africa

Introduction: Men’s involvement in antenatal care (ANC) is intended to encourage husbands to support women’s care and associated interventions, including prevention of mother-to-child transmission from pregnancy to delivery, and throughout the postnatal period. The present study aimed to systematically review the barriers and opportunities for male partner involvement in antenatal care in efforts to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Kenya. Methods: A systematic search of articles was from the following databases; Scopus, Science Direct, PUBMED, OVID, and Google scholar. The reference list of included studies was manually searched for possible additional eligible articles. The searches were conducted from May 2019 to April 2020. Qualitative analysis was done and data were presented in thematic domains. Results: The search generated 2208 articles, of which only 19 met the inclusion criteria. The major findings were discussed under two thematic domains: 1) Barriers: Knowledge, Social-cultural/economic factors, Institutional factors, and Age. 2) Opportunities: Skilled Birth Attendant, Human Immunodeficiency virus-free infant and Human Immunodeficiency virus testing. Conclusion: The review notes that the main barriers to male partner involvement in antenatal care in efforts to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of Human Immunodeficiency virus in Kenya include; socio-cultural factors, the low maternal-child health education by the male partner, and institutional factors. It further provides insight on the opportunities associated with male partner involvement in antenatal care/prevention of mother-to-child transmission, which includes; having Human Immunodeficiency virus-free infants and increased, skilled birth deliveries. The review strongly calls out for sustainable initiatives to incorporate males into the antenatal care/prevention of mother to child transmission programs.

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Male partner involvement in efforts to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Kisumu County, Western Kenya, 2015

Pan African Medical Journal ◽

10.11604/pamj.supp.2017.28.1.9283 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 28 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Elvis Oyugi ◽

Zeinab Gura ◽

Waqo Boru ◽

Jane Githuku ◽

Dickens Onyango ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Male Partner ◽

Mother To Child Transmission ◽

Child Transmission ◽

Western Kenya ◽

Male Partner Involvement ◽

Partner Involvement ◽

Mother To Child

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Impact of a Rapid Results Initiative Approach on Improving Male Partner Involvement in Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV in Western Kenya

AIDS and Behavior ◽

10.1007/s10461-018-2140-3 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (9) ◽

pp. 2956-2965 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

E. Akama ◽

M. Mburu ◽

E. Mutegi ◽

G. Nyanaro ◽

J. P. Otieno ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Male Partner ◽

Mother To Child Transmission ◽

Child Transmission ◽

Western Kenya ◽

Male Partner Involvement ◽

Partner Involvement ◽

Mother To Child

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Non-disclosure of HIV-positive status to a partner and mother-to-child transmission of HIV: Evidence from a case–control study conducted in a rural county in Kenya

Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine ◽

10.4102/sajhivmed.v18i1.691 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Joram Nyandat ◽

Gisela Van Rensburg

Keyword(s):

Male Partner ◽

Hiv Positive ◽

Mother To Child Transmission ◽

Hiv Status ◽

Child Transmission ◽

Male Partner Involvement ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Hiv Acquisition ◽

Partner Involvement ◽

Mother To Child

Background: Many factors contribute to an enhanced risk of infant HIV acquisition, two of which may include failure of a mother to disclose her HIV-positive status to her partner and exclusion of male partners in preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) interventions. To justify why HIV programmes need to integrate male partner involvement and partner disclosure, we need to establish an association between the two factors and infant HIV acquisition.Objective: To determine whether failure to disclose an HIV-positive status to a male partner is associated with increased risk of infant HIV acquisition, and whether part of the association is explained by exclusion of male partner in PMTCT programmes.Methods: Using a case–control study design, we identified a total of 180 mother–baby pairs with HIV-exposed infants. Thirty-six pairs with HIV-positive babies (cases) were compared to 144 pairs with HIV-negative babies (controls) on whether the mothers had disclosed their HIV status to their partner in order to determine whether a disclosure or lack of it contributed to increased risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (MTCT). Each case pair was matched to four control pairs from the same facility.Results: Overall, 16.7% of mothers had not disclosed their HIV status to their partners, the proportion being significantly more among cases (52.8% vs. 7.6%, p < 0.001). Non-disclosure was significantly associated with infant HIV acquisition (aOR 9.8 (3.0–26.3); p < 0.001) and male partner involvement partially mediated the effect of non-disclosure on infant HIV acquisition (indirect coefficient = 0.17, p < 0.005).Conclusions: Failure of an HIV-positive woman to disclose her status to her male partner and exclusion of male partners in PMTCT programmes are two social factors that may curtail success of interventions towards the goal of eliminating MTCT.

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