Ibu Josephine Moshe, Mhlongo Euphemia Mbali
School of Nursing and Public Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa.
Healthcare (Basel). 2021 Mar 14;9(3):328. doi: 10.3390/healthcare9030328.
Nigeria contributes the highest to the global burden of HIV/AIDS and also accounts for the largest proportion of new vertically transmitted HIV infections among children. The Mentor Mothers program in the Nigerian Department of Defense was introduced in accordance with the World Health Organization and its implementing partner guidelines to curb the high incidence of vertically acquired HIV infections. Understanding the experiences of participants could serve as a gateway to evaluating the effectiveness of the program to better provide quality services within targeted health facilities. This qualitative study employed key informant interviews with six healthcare workers as well as two focus group discussions with six mentor mothers and six prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) patients in four selected hospitals in the Nigerian Department of Defense to explore their experiences of the Mentor Mothers program. A thematic analysis technique was used to analyze the collated data. As a result, four main themes emerged, with the program perceived by most participants as providing psychosocial support to the patients, a valuable educational resource for raising HIV awareness, a valuable resource for promoting exclusive breastfeeding and mitigating vertical transmission of the virus, and functioning as a link between patients and the healthcare system. The participants reported that the program had effectively decreased HIV infections in children, reduced child and maternal mortality, and supported the livelihood and development of women, families, and communities in and around the Nigerian Department of Defense health facilities.
尼日利亚对全球艾滋病毒/艾滋病负担的贡献最大，在儿童中新发垂直传播艾滋病毒感染病例的占比也最高。尼日利亚国防部的“指导母亲”项目是根据世界卫生组织及其实施伙伴的指导方针推出的，旨在遏制垂直感染艾滋病毒的高发病率。了解参与者的经历有助于评估该项目的有效性，以便在目标医疗机构更好地提供优质服务。这项定性研究对六名医护人员进行了关键信息人访谈，并在尼日利亚国防部选定的四家医院与六名指导母亲和六名预防母婴传播（PMTCT）患者进行了两次焦点小组讨论，以探究他们参与“指导母亲”项目的经历。采用主题分析技术对整理的数据进行分析。结果出现了四个主要主题，大多数参与者认为该项目为患者提供了心理社会支持，是提高艾滋病毒意识的宝贵教育资源，是促进纯母乳喂养和减轻病毒垂直传播的宝贵资源，并且充当了患者与医疗系统之间的纽带。参与者报告称，该项目有效减少了儿童中的艾滋病毒感染，降低了儿童和孕产妇死亡率，并支持了尼日利亚国防部医疗机构及其周边地区妇女、家庭和社区的生计与发展。
