Transcript Session: 4 Role of Maternal and Child Health Services in

Session: 4
Role of Maternal and Child
Health Services in the
prevention of HIV infection
in infants and young
children
Dr.Pushpalatha,
Assistant Professor,
Dept of Pediatrics,
Vani Vilas Hospital,
Bangalore
PPTCT programs need to be integrated as an
essential part of MCH care.
All mothers and infants will benefit from the
integration of PPTCT into existing care
services.
Maternal and child health services

MCH programmes facilitate PPTCT by
providing:





Essential antenatal care
Family planning services
ARV prophylaxis
Safer delivery practices
Counseling and support for the woman’s chosen
infant feeding method


Many elements of PPTCT programmes
parallel and complement initiatives of MCH
services.
Some of the essential components of MCH
are:





Essential obstetric care
Safe abortion services
Strengthening of FRUs and emergency obstetric
care
Promotion of institutional deliveries and 24 hr
delivery services at PHCs and CHCs
Baby friendly hospitals

At present, these services are provided under
the RCH program, which also includes
services for the prevention and control of
RTIs/STIs, which have an important role in
prevention of HIV
Comprehensive MCH services




Recognize that the best approach to preventing HIV
infection in infants and children begins with
prevention of primary infection in parents-to-be.
Provide information to prevent unintended
pregnancies in both HIV infected women and highrisk women with unknown status
Provide education in early recognition and treatment
of STIs
Provide education in risk reduction for MTCT

Link and refer clients to community services
that include the following elements:






Treatment for chronic primary care conditions
including asthma, hypertension and DM
HIV testing and counseling
Nutritional care
ARV treatment
Economic assistance
Psychosocial and/or spiritual support


Educate clients about how to recognize
symptoms of opportunistic infections and
measures they can take to prevent such
infections
Educate clients about how to recognize early
symptoms of HIV infection in the infant or
child
Integration of PPTCT within
postnatal MCH services

Effective integration of PPTCT within
postnatal MCH services is likely to increase
community acceptance of PPTCT programmes
and strengthen maternal care, infant care and
family care.
Maternal Care-protecting mother’s health
by providing medical and psychosocial
support.
Infant Care-growth and development
nutritional support,immunization and early
HIV testing.
Family Care-provides social support,testing
and counselling for family members;referrals
to community services.
The PPTCT program

The 4 prongs of comprehensive care in PPTCT
are:




Primary prevention of HIV infection
Prevention of unintended pregnancies in HIV
infected women
Prevention of HIV transmission from HIV infected
women to their infants
Provision of treatment, care and support to HIV
infected women, their infants and their families





Without intervention, the risk of MTCT is 25-40%
Combination interventions can reduce the MTCT rate
by upto 40% in breast feeding populations
Because ARV prophylaxis alone does not provide
long term benefit to the mother’s infection, on going
care and support are needed
MCH services can act as an entry point to the range
of services that can provide care and support to HIV
positive women and affected family members
Linkages to community services provide enhanced
care and support.