ABSTRACT
Factors impacting the choice of infant feeding alternatives among HIV positive women attending health facilities in Ogoja, Cross River State, were investigated in this survey. The goal was to look into the factors that influence HIV-positive moms’ newborn feeding choices in Ogoja, Cross River State. The study was guided by four objectives and four research questions. A review of the literature was conducted. The study included all HIV positive mothers who visited health institutions in Ogoja between January and December of 2011, with a total of 136 HIV positive mothers. Because the study comprised the entire population, there was no sampling. The data gathering instrument was a two-section questionnaire. Section A contained eight socio-demographic characteristics questions. Section B consisted of a 10-item Yes/No rating scale. Chi-square statistics were used to assess the data. Marital status (x2 = 20.924, p.00), religious status (x2 = 14.972, p.05), maternal health condition (x2=12.436, p.02), limited time to breastfeed baby due to work (x2 =11.065, p.04), and baby’s refusal to take breast milk (x2 = 18.318, p.00) were all found to have a significant impact on HIV positive mothers’ infant feeding options. The main findings demonstrate that marital status, religious affiliation, maternal health, lack of time to breastfeed due to employment, and the baby’s refusal to take a bottle are all significant factors.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a long-term health concern with symptoms that might show anywhere from months to years. HIV is widespread in all known world populations, including the embryonic population (unborn newborns) and breastfed infants. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2011), over eleven million people have died as a result of AIDS, while another 3.6 million people have been infected with HIV, with a daily infection rate of over 16,000 people worldwide. According to Anyebe, Whiskey, Ajayi, Garba, Ochigbo, and Lawal (2011), 42 million persons worldwide had been infected with HIV/AIDS by 2002, 38.6 million of them were adults, 19.2 million of whom were women. During the same time span, more than 3 million children under the age of 15 were infected worldwide, with about 5 million new infections reported each year. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for about two-thirds of these. Each year, an estimated 600,000 children are infected vertically (in utero), with the majority of transmission occurring during labor and delivery in locations where women do not breastfeed (Okon, 2011).
There is an added concern in Nigeria, where the majority of women breastfeed. In 2003, almost 800,000 newborns and children were infected out of a total of 5.8 million, with 90% of those infected through their mothers at three levels: antepartum, intrapartum, and nursing (Okon, 2011). There is presently no cure for HIV, but mother-to-child transmission prevention (PMTCT) looks to be the most essential strategy (Family Health International, 2004). “There is no cure for HIV, but prevention of vertical transmission of HIV to include voluntary counseling and testing, (VCT), ante-retroviral therapy, elective caesarean section; replacement of infant feed or modified breastfeeding, and restricted use of invasive procedures such as artificial rupture of membrane, (ARM), episiotomies, and cleansing of the birth canal,” according to Ajayi, Hellandendu, and Odekunle (2011).
Exclusive breastfeeding is the best practice for HIV-positive moms in the first six months of life, according to Sadoh, Adeniran, and Abhulimhen-Iyohas (2008).
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