Browsing by Author "Kessy, Margaret"

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Infant feeding practices and prevention of vertical transmission of HIV in Mvomero district, Morogoro
(Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2005) Kessy, Margaret
HIV infected mothers arc currently advised to avoid all breastfeeding where replacement feeding is acceptable, feasible, affordable, safe and sustainable in response to breastmilk transmission of HIV. However, in Tanzania where most women do not know their HIV status, exclusive breastfeeding and access to safe replacement feeding is unachievable. This study examined the impact of social, economic and cultural constraints on the development of infant feeding interventions to prevent vertical transmission of HIV, in order to inform a successful infant feeding improvement initiatives in the era of HIV and AIDS. The hypothesis of the study was that knowledge of breastmilk transmission of HIV and awareness of HIV status affect infant-feeding practices. Seventy infected and uninfected mothers with children below IS months were interviewed. The results show that respondents’ knowledge of breastmilk transmission of HIV was high, 100?4> of the infected and 97.1% of uninfected mothers knew about the possibility of transmission'oT^IIV through breastmilk. The mean duration of exclusive breastfeeding was 3.48 and 2.97 months for infected and uninfected mothers respectively. Knowledge of HIV status was not associated with breastfeeding practices. Although infected mothers stopped to breastfeed earlier than uninfected mothers, mean age for cessation of breastfeeding was 6.4 months, far above the recommended age for cessation of breastfeeding to prevent vertical transmission of HIV. The age of the mother was associated with the duration of exclusive breastfeeding (p<0.05) but did not contribute to cessation of breastfeeding (p=0. 3979). Health workers as source of infomiation regarding vertical transmission of HIV was significantly associated with exclusive breastfeeding for four months (p<0.05) and to cessation ol breastfeeding (p<0.05). Number of children below five years contributed to cessation of breastfeeding (p<0.05). Factors influencing the attitude of feeding interventions included mis-information, and myth about vertical transmission of HIV, lack of purchasing power to infant feeding interventions and stigma. Factors influencing breastmilk practices included mothers’ health (p<0.00l), fear of infecting the child (p<0.001), insufficient breastmilk (p<0.001), beliefs about breastfeeding such as clearance of child’s throat (p< 0.001) and child cry (p=0.112). Integrated approaches to increase awareness of vertical transmission of HIV, change health care seeking behaviour and counteract harmful beliefs about infant feeding may improve attitude and infant feeding practices to prevent vertical transmission of HIV.