14th ICID - Poster Abstracts - International Society for Infectious ...

When citing these abstracts please use the following reference:
Author(s) of abstract. Title of abstract [abstract]. Int J Infect Dis 2010;14S1: Abstract number.
Please note that the official publication of the International Journal of Infectious Diseases 2010, Volume 14, Supplement 1
is available electronically on http://www.sciencedirect.com
Final Abstract Number: 27.002
Session: HIV: Epidemiology and Prevention
Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Time: 12:30-13:30
Room: Poster & Exhibition Area/Ground Level
Type: Poster Presentation
Community involvement in HIV/AIDS prevention
C. OKONKWOH
Youth Repositioning Foundation, 234, Nigeria
Background: Due to high prevalence rates of HIV in limited resource locations in Nigeria,
communities have been trained to be more involved in designing and implementing HIV/AIDS
prevention programmes .This project after months of research Identified community members as
“significant others” in the prevention of HIV/AIDS. Mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS have
been used as a case study to butress this fact.
Methods: The data was generated through a descriptive cross sectional study among one
hundred positive nursing mothers in Ijesha community in Surulere Local Government Area, Lagos
State, Nigeria. Household interviews were carried out and these interviews were used to assess
community knowledge, beliefs, opinions, perception and attitude on Mother to child transmission
of HIV/AIDS and the need to reduce the gap and misinformation on the prevention of mother to
child transmission of HIV/AIDS.
Results: The data generated revealed that seventy percent of the research population responded
to medical treatments because they received support from their families and other community
members. Furthermore mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS was greatly reduced. Contrarily,
thirty percent of the research population had a high rate of mother to child transmission of
HIV/AIDS due to cultural barriers from the community and fear of stigma and discrimination from
the community.
Conclusion: To be most effective, biomedical breakthroughs on mother to child transmission of
HIV/AIDS must be combined with educational efforts that inform communities about HIV/AIDS
prevention. Interventions to reduce the risk of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS will
succeed to a large extent when adequate information, education and services are properly
packaged for community members who represent significant others in women’s lives.
Involving community members in mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS is an excellent
approach to breaking down barriers that influence HIV transmission from mother to child.