About the Project
Sub-Sahara Africa is disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS; about two third of HIV+ people live in this region. In infants and young children, over 90% of new infections occur through mother to child transmission.
Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV is one of the core strategies to prevent and control HIV. Until recently, giving ARV prophylaxis had been the preferred choice for prevention of vertical transmission of HIV, if the mother was not eligible for ART.
Ethiopia and many other sub-Saharan African countries have recently modified this approach and begun to give lifelong ART for all pregnant women irrespective of eligibility for ART. However ARV drugs have known adverse effects for the mother and the child. Therefore, this project will assess the adverse effects of ARVs on pregnancy outcome. Moreover, the effect of partner involvement in care on pregnancy outcome will be determined.
This project is part of Strategic And Collaborative Capacity Development in Ethiopia and Africa.
Objectives
- To determine whether initiating ART during pregnancy is associated with increased adverse effects on pregnancy outcomes among HIV + pregnant mothers as compared to single dose ARV (AZT) prophylaxis.
- To determine whether initiating ART has decreased maternal morbidity and mortality among HIV-positive pregnant women as compared to HIV-positive pregnant women taking single dose prophylaxis.
- To determine whether initiating HAART during pregnancy is associated with increased adverse effects on pregnancy outcome in underweight (BMI<18.5kg/m2) HIV positive pregnant mothers as compared to single dose ARV (AZT) prophylaxis.
- To determine the effect of partner involvement in PMTCT service on pregnancy outcomes among HIV+ pregnant mothers.
Background
Retrospectives cohort study will be conducted. Data will be extracted from clinical records of HIV+ women getting PMTCT service during the last five years (January1, 2010 to December 31, 2014)
Financing
- NORAD’s NORHED programme
Project start - finish
January 2015 to December 2017