ABSTRACT
HIV/AIDS has remained a major threat to population health in developing
countries and Nigeria in particular. The 2013 National Demographic and
Health Survey (NDHS) says though mortality rates differ by zones, the
under-five mortality rate for the ten-year period before the survey
ranges from 185 deaths per 1,000 live births in North West Zone to 90
per 1,000 live births in South West Zone. Children living in rural areas
are also more likely to die young than children in urban areas, with
under-five mortality at 167 per 1,000 live births in rural areas,
compared with 100 per 1,000 live births in urban areas. This mortality
is associated with poor women education, low access neonatal health
services, HIV infection and other factors. HIV infection having been
identified as one of the causes of child mortality and a major health
concern needs to be tackled. Government and non-governmental agencies
have used various strategies to halt the rate of infection and eventual
death especially in children. An integral part of the strategies
employed is the prevention of mother to child transmission programmes
which counselling is incorporated into. This research assessed the
importance of counselling as a communication technique in prevention of
mother to child transmission of HIV and took a holistic look at the
process of counselling in two selected hospitals and how it has helped
in combating MTCT. This research was conducted on 29 hospital staff of
two hospitals with 19 from Saint Gerard's Catholic Hospital Kaduna in
the Heart to Heart centres and 10 staff from Yusuf Dantsoho hospital
Kaduna with an average patients of 439 assisted by a Non-governmental
organisation Caritas Foundation of Nigeria and Centre for Integrated
Health Programmes (CIHP) for Saint Gerard's and Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital
respectively.Qualitative and quantitative mode of data collection was
used in analysing the study and the research found out that majority of
the patients were aware of their HIV status after counselling and
counselling has been beneficial. That counselling helps to reduce stigma
and discrimination. That HIV positive mothers have given birth to
negative children due to their adherence to counselling services and
that there has been an improvement in the health status of HIV positive
mothers and their children. In view of this research that was carried
out in the two hospitals, there is the need to enhance the level of
awareness with specific communication strategies; that being HIV
positive is not a death sentence.