Download young women

Kheth’Impilo: Adolescent and Young
Pregnant Women at Increased Risk of Mother-toChild Transmission of HIV and Poor Maternal and
Infant Health Outcomes: a Cohort Study from, South
Africa
# MOPDB0103
IAS Melbourne 2014 July
Geoff Fatti, Najma Shaikh, Eula Mothibi, Bonaventure
Egbujie, Brian Eley, Debra Jackson, Ashraf Grimwood



South Africa has the highest burden of childhood HIV
infection globally, and has high rates of adolescent &
youth pregnancy.
To explore risks associated with pregnancy in young HIVinfected women, we compared mother-to-child HIV
transmission and maternal & infant health outcomes
according to maternal age categories.
A cohort of HIV-positive pregnant women and their
infants were followed at three sentinel surveillance
facilities in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan district
of South Africa.





Facilities were supported by Kheth’Impilo, a non-profit
organisation that provides HSS initiatives and TA to NDOH
All HIV-positive pregnant women and their infants who
attended facilities between Jan 2009 and March 2012
were included.
Routine, individual-level clinical data were captured
electronically.
Young women were defined as ≤24 years old and
adolescents as ≤19 years.
Multivariable log-binomial and Cox regression were used
to compare outcomes between maternal age
categories.
• 956 mother-infant pairs were included, of whom 312 (32.6%) were young women.
Of these, 65 (20.8%) were adolescents.
• The proportion of young pregnant women increased by 23% between 2009/10 and
2011/12.
Time till ART initiation after booking
Decrease
young
women
(≤ 24 yrs)
adolescents
(≤ 19 yrs)
Increase




An increasing proportion of pregnant HIVpositive women were young.
Young women had increased MTCT and
poorer maternal and infant outcomes.
Interventions targeting young women are
increasingly needed to reduce pregnancy,
HIV acquisition, MTCT and improve maternal
and infant outcomes if South Africa is to attain
its millennium development goals.
ISHP has to be more pro-active in increasing
access to HCT,FP and barrier methods
This presentation and the data contained
herein is made possible by the support of the
American People through the United States
Agency for International Development
(USAID). The contents of this presentation are
the sole responsibility of Kheth’Impilo and do
not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or
the United States Government.