Maternal health, child health, prenatal care, AIDS

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to determine the levels, sources, and locations of and influential factors for exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) among pediatric patients from inner-city families. METHOD: Descriptive and associative analysis of ETS exposure in children 6 to 10 years of age was performed with survey data collected at Children's Hospital of Michigan through mothers' report and children's urine cotinine. RESULTS: The sample included 397 participants, 82...

CONTEXT: Given the health risks of HIV/AIDS and the risks of teenage pregnancy in general, pregnant HIV-positive adolescents in Kenya need maternal health care services that account for their HIV status. However, research on their access to and use of these services is scant. METHODS: To examine maternal health care utilization, pregnancy history data collected in 2009 on 506 pregnancies among 393 HIV-positive female adolescents aged 15-19 enrolled in HIV/AIDS programs in Kenya were analyzed...

With its independence secured on 9th July 2011, the Republic of South Sudan faces a daunting task to improve public health and primary care in one of the poorest countries in the world. Very high maternal and child mortality rates must be a major concern for the new national government and for the many international agencies working in the country. Poor maternal health outcomes are primarily due to poor prenatal, delivery and post natal care services in health facilities, coupled with low literacy, widespread poverty, and poor nutrition among the general population...

The purpose of this article is to describe possible reasons for the increase in HIV/AIDS among childbearing Hispanic/Latinas and to discuss the implications for maternal child nurses. The median age of Hispanic/Latinas is 27 years compared to 36 years for all other races combined. Hispanic/Latinas have the highest birth rate among all women in the United States; they also have a five times greater rate of HIV/AIDS infection compared to non-Hispanic White women. Most commonly, Hispanic/Latina women first discover their HIV status when they receive prenatal care...

Despite substantial research documenting the importance of father-child relations, little is known about fathers in families considered at risk for child abuse, and this lack of information makes adequate targeting of fathers in interventions challenging. This research aims to provide information that will aid interventions in targeting fathers and addressing father-related family issues through: (a) providing descriptive information regarding fathers in families at risk for child abuse, and (b) examining aspects of family well-being relative to father involvement...

OBJECTIVES: To describe the implementation and results of the linked response (LR) in Cambodia after 18 months of follow-up. METHODS: The main objectives of the LR are to increase access to sexually transmitted infection/HIV prevention, testing, care, and treatment and to strengthen existing reproductive health services through increased linkages within and between public health facilities and community-based services. The LR was piloted in Cambodia in 2008, in 2 demonstration projects, covering 5 operational districts...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between male involvement in prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission services and infant HIV acquisition and mortality, a prospective cohort study was undertaken between 1999 and 2005 in Nairobi, Kenya. METHODS: HIV-infected pregnant women were enrolled and followed with their infants for 1 year with infant HIV DNA testing at birth, 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months postpartum. Women were encouraged to invite male partners for prevention counseling and HIV testing...

OBJECTIVE: To determine impediments to the effective reduction of maternal-infant transmission of HIV in the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil. METHODS: This is a cohort study, with medical follow-up, of pregnant women with confirmed diagnosis of HIV infection, and their infant children, assisted at the Municipal Specialized Service of Sexually Transmitted Diseases/AIDS from January 2004 to April 2007. Information regarding exposure and outcome variables was collected from their medical records...

OBJECTIVES: To assess the outcomes of efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) made over the last 2 decades in New York State (NYS), through review of data from multiple sources. METHODS: Using available surveillance, laboratory, and program monitoring data, the following were examined for NYS: (1) the rate of prenatal HIV testing, (2) HIV prevalence among childbearing women, (3) maternal prenatal and delivery care, (4) care of HIV-exposed infants, and (5) the rate of MTCT...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility of HIV rapid testing for pregnant women at maternity hospital admission and of subsequent interventions to reduce perinatal HIV transmission. METHODS: Study based on a convenience sample of women unaware of their HIV serostatus when they were admitted to delivery in public maternity hospitals in Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre, Brazil, between March 2000 and April 2002. Women were counseled and tested using the Determine HIV1/2 Rapid Test...

To mitigate the negative impacts of HIV infection on pregnant women and their children, comprehensive services to prevent mother to child transmission are required. We report the outcomes and challenges of a comprehensive service to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV infection implemented from January to December 2007 in a referral hospital and its rollout clinics in rural Swaziland, Southern Africa. We reviewed monthly reports, hospital registers, and field diaries and interviewed 64 service providers...

BACKGROUND: The high rate of antenatal care attendance in sub-Saharan Africa, should facilitate provision of information on signs of potential pregnancy complications. The aim of this study was to assess quality of antenatal care with respect to providers' counselling of pregnancy danger signs in Rufiji district, Tanzania. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 18 primary health facilities. Thirty two providers were observed providing antenatal care to 438 pregnant women...

OBJECTIVES: To review the principles of prenatal diagnosis of congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and to describe the outcomes of the affected pregnancies. OUTCOMES: Effective management of fetal infection following primary and secondary maternal CMV infection during pregnancy. Neonatal signs include intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), microcephaly, hepatosplenomegaly, petechiae, jaundice, chorioretinitis, thrombocytopenia and anemia, and long-term sequelae consist of sensorineural hearing loss, mental retardation, delay of psychomotor development, and visual impairment...

OBJECTIVE: To test, among an urban primarily African American sample, the effects of prenatal and infancy home visiting by nurses on mothers' fertility, partner relationships, and economic self-sufficiency and on government spending through age 12 years of their firstborn child. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Public system of obstetric and pediatric care in Memphis, Tennessee. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 594 urban primarily African American economically disadvantaged mothers (among 743 who registered during pregnancy)...

INTRODUCTION: Kosovo is a post-conflict nation with an extensively damaged infrastructure, a weak primary care base, and poor maternal-child health outcomes. The Kosovo-Dartmouth Alliance for Healthy Newborns (the Alliance) sought to improve maternal and neonatal health in Kosovo by providing family medicine-based antenatal care (ANC). METHODS: The ANC Program used a modification of the World Health Organization's four-visit, prenatal care model. The program is based in family medicine and requires minimal medical equipment, such as a blood pressure cuff, fetal doppler, measuring tape, urine dipstick, and charting materials...

The aim of this study was as part of a baseline assessment in PMTCT in the traditional health sector: a) to determine the views of women who have used the services of traditional practitioners before, during and/or after pregnancy, and b) to conduct formative research with traditional health practitioners (THPs), i.e. herbalists, diviners and traditional birth attendants (TBAs) on HIV, pregnancy care, delivery and infant care. The sample included a) 181 postnatal care clients with a child less than 12 months interviewed at postnatal clinic visits from 20 primary care clinics in the Kouga Local Service Area (LSA), Cacadu district, Eastern Cape, and b) 54 traditional birth attendants (TBAs) and 47 herbalists and/or diviners were interviewed from Kouga LSA...

Nurses play a crucial role in ensuring that women with HIV get appropriate treatment and care during their pregnancy. This article reviews testing in pregnancy, factors associated with perinatal transmission, guidelines for management of pregnancy, labour and delivery and for postpartum care, and the identification of high-risk women as well as strategies for intervention with pregnant women with HIV.

ISSUES: Voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) is a critical issue impacting HIV disease management from a national and global perspective. In Jamaica (population 2.6 million), 2% of women in antenatal clinics are HIV-positive and mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT) accounted for 7% of all reported cases in 2002. Notwithstanding this, VCT was ad hoc and not standardized. In 2003, a structured VCT programme was developed islandwide with over 300 VCT service providers and 16 qualified trainers...

OBJECTIVE: Model the feasibility and affordability of the 2001 UN General Assembly Special Session on AIDS goals to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV (MTCT) by 50% by 2010 and achieve 80% coverage of interventions to reduce it among women presenting for antenatal care. METHODS: The cost and human resource needs of prevention of MTCT (PMTCT) and paediatric treatment were modelled for 2007-2015 and compared with the AIDS budgets and available health workforce in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Malawi, Rwanda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia...

OBJECTIVES: To apply decision analysis to compare the cost-effectiveness of three strategies for HIV screening of pregnant women and to recommend the one most appropriate for the health care system of Colombia. METHODS: An economic study applying decision analysis to three types of HIV screening of expectant women: voluntary, universal, and optional. All the women in Colombia with unknown HIV status who were admitted for child birth were included. The study included all the direct medical costs incurred from the time of testing through the first year following delivery, according to the General System for Healthcare Social Security...