NRU :: Browsing by Author "Mirembe Masereka, Enosk"

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Increasing retention of HIV positive pregnant and breastfeeding mothers on option-b plus by upgrading and providing full time HIV services at a lower health facility in rural Uganda
(BMC public health, 2019) Mirembe Masereka, Enosk; Ngabirano, Tom Denis; Osingada, Charles Peter; Sekaggya Wiltshire, Christine; Castelnuovo, Barbara; Kiragga, Agnes N.
Despite advancement in Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) services, the rate of MTCT of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa is still high. This is partly due to low retention of HIV positive mothers in HIV care. We sought to determine the level of retention and the factors associated with retention among HIV positive pregnant and breastfeeding mothers following accreditation of an antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic to offer full time ART services in one of the lower health facilities in rural Western Uganda. This study was a mixed methods study conducted in 5 health centres in rural Western Uganda from 10th April to 10th May 2017. A total of 132 retained and non-retained HIV positive pregnant and breastfeeding mothers were recruited. A Mother was categorized as retained if she had not missed her ART appointments at antenatal or postnatal clinic for ≥3 consecutive months. Questionnaires were administered and four focus group discussions were held. We used descriptive statistics to understand characteristics of mothers and their levels of retention. Thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data.