Academy for Educational Development, 1875 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC, 20009, USA.
Int Breastfeed J. 2006 Mar 9;1(1):2. doi: 10.1186/1746-4358-1-2.
To prevent postnatal transmission of HIV in settings where safe alternatives to breastfeeding are unavailable, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding followed by early, rapid cessation of breastfeeding. Only limited data are available on the attitudes of health workers toward this recommendation and the impact of these attitudes on infant feeding counselling messages given to mothers.
As part of the Breastfeeding, Antiretroviral, and Nutrition (BAN) clinical trial, we carried out an in-depth qualitative study of the attitudes, beliefs, and counselling messages of 19 health workers in Lilongwe, Malawi.
Although none of the workers had received formal training, several reported having counseled HIV-positive mothers about infant feeding. Health workers with counselling experience believed that HIV-infected mothers should breastfeed exclusively, rather than infant formula feed, citing poverty as the primary reason. Because of high levels of malnutrition, all the workers had concerns about early cessation of breastfeeding.
Important differences were observed between the WHO recommendations and the attitudes and practices of the health workers. Understanding these differences is important for designing effective interventions.
在无法提供安全替代母乳喂养方法的情况下，为了预防艾滋病母婴传播，世界卫生组织（WHO）建议实行纯母乳喂养，之后迅速且尽早停止母乳喂养。目前仅有少量数据可用于评估卫生工作者对该建议的态度，以及这些态度对向母亲提供的婴儿喂养咨询信息的影响。
作为母乳喂养、抗逆转录病毒和营养（BAN）临床试验的一部分，我们在马拉维利隆圭开展了一项深入的定性研究，以了解 19 名卫生工作者的态度、信念和咨询信息。
尽管没有工作人员接受过正式培训，但有几位报告曾为艾滋病毒阳性母亲提供过有关婴儿喂养的咨询。有咨询经验的卫生工作者认为，感染艾滋病毒的母亲应该进行纯母乳喂养，而不是婴儿配方奶粉喂养，他们将贫困作为主要原因。由于营养不良程度较高，所有工作人员都对尽早停止母乳喂养表示担忧。
观察到世界卫生组织的建议与卫生工作者的态度和做法之间存在重要差异。了解这些差异对于设计有效的干预措施很重要。
