Towards the Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV in Nigeria: A Health System Prespective of the Achievements and Challenges

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-27-2019

Publication Title

International Health

Volume

11

Issue

4

First page number:

240

Last page number:

249

Abstract

Despite its scaled-up response for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT), Nigeria still contributes the greatest number of infants infected with HIV worldwide. Drawing on our knowledge, and review of policy documents and research papers, we explored the achievements and challenges in the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Nigeria using the WHO’s health systems framework. We found that Nigeria has increased the number of PMTCT sites, decentralized and integrated PMTCT care for expanded service delivery, adopted task-shifting to address the shortage of skilled healthcare providers, explored alternative sources of domestic funding to bridge the funding gap and harmonized the health management information system to improve data quality. Some of the challenges we identified included: difficulty in identifying HIV-infected pregnant women because of low uptake of antenatal care; interrupted supplies of medical commodities; knowledge gaps among healthcare workers; and lack of a national unique identifying system to enhance data quality. While there have been some achievements in the PMTCT program, gaps still exist in the different blocks of the health system. Elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Nigeria will require the implementation of feasible, culturally acceptable and sustainable interventions to address the health system-related challenges.

Keywords

Challenges; Health system; HIV; Nigeria; Prevention of mother-to-child transmission; Achievements

Disciplines

African Studies | Female Urogenital Diseases and Pregnancy Complications | Immune System Diseases

Language

English

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