1 Epidemiology, Maternal, Child and Newborn Health and Implementation Science Unit, School of Public Health of the University of Lubumbashi, Republic of Congo.
2 public health department, Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lubumbashi, Republic of Congo.
Research Article
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2023, 19(01), 045-055
Received on 16 May 2023; revised on 26 June 2023; accepted on 29 June 2023
The objective was to identify feeding practices among children born to HIV/AIDS-positive mothers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Methods: The study was conducted in the provinces of Haut-Katanga and North Kivu in Haut-Katanga, the study included seven ZS in the city of Lubumbashi and the ZS Sakania, Kipushi the ZS Nyiragongo, Rutshuru, Binza, Goma, Karisimbi and Kirotshe were included in the study. A total of 1234 HIV+ mother couples with children at least six weeks old and with early HIV diagnosis results available were included in the study. For each mother-child couple, data were sought from three complementary sites: ANC, Maternity Hospital and the Provincial AIDS Reference Laboratory.
Results: The majority of mothers were between 20 and 34 years of age (83.9 percent); three-quarters of these mothers were married (73.4 percent); half had a high school education (56.5 percent), and their main occupation was housework (41.9 percent); (96.8%) of women had given birth in a health facility; (79.8%) had done so in the health facility where they had attended ANC; only 11.3% of these women had experienced complications during delivery; two thirds of the women surveyed had children aged between 7 and 24 months (66.2%). The options cited were exclusive breastfeeding (61.3%) and artificial breastfeeding (46.0%). It was noted that 82.3% of women had put their baby to the breast within one hour of delivery. 90.3% reported exclusive breastfeeding, and it was noted that women chose to breastfeed because they were unable to buy artificial milk (42.9%). No mothers reported using a wet-nurse or the milk bank to feed their babies. However, the fact that mothers' child feeding options are not mutually exclusive suggests that although choice was made over one option, many mothers combine several to feed their children.
Conclusion: It is important to consider, in the current context, the threat that mixed feeding poses to efforts to prevent MTCT Emphasizing follow-up home visits that not only retain women in the program, but also ensure that they and their infants are adhering to treatment, can continue to maintain undetectable viral load and reduce the risk of MTCT associated with mixed feeding. These visits should be carried out by trained, motivated and accountable staff to ensure that they have maximum impact in reducing the rate of MTCT.
Practice; Feeding; Newborn; Mother; HIV-positive
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Tabitha Ilunga Mpoyi, Abel. Mukengeshayi Ntambue, Jean Baptiste Kakoma Sakatolo zambeze and Françoise Malonga Kaj. Feeding practices of children born to HIV-AIDS positive mothers in the democratic Republic of Congo. World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2023, 19(1), 045-055 . Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.30574/wjarr.2023.19.1.1234