A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Masters of Science in Health Monitoring and Evaluation of Mzumbe
University
This study was conducted to evaluate the contribution of PMTCT programme
towards improved access of PMTCT services for maternal and child survival in
Urambo district council for the period of 2013-2015 by looking at the trend of HIV
positive pregnant and breastfeeding women who received ARVs; accessibility to care
and treatment for mothers and babies living with HIV and determining whether child
survival among HIV exposed and infected children has been improved. The study
used the quantitative approach. Cross sectional evaluation design was used to obtain
a total of 337 respondents who were selected in a simple random manner. Data were
coded and analyzed using SPSS IBM V20. Findings from this study show that the
trend of HIV positive pregnant and breastfeeding women receiving ARVs for the
period of 2013-2015 increased from 84% in the year 2010 to 100% in the year 2015.
Also, findings show that the accessibility to care and treatment for mothers and
babies living with HIV increased from 10% in the year 2008 to 68% in the year
2015. Furthermore, child survival rate in terms of children found to be HIV negative
at 18 months of follow after born to HIV positive mothers increased from 35% in the
year 2012 up to 92% in the year 2015. This was contributed by scaling up of core
PMTCT services to all dispensaries and health centers. Moreover, 97.9% (9794 out
of 10000 targeted) pregnant women attending ANC were counseled and tested for
HIV; of which 99.4% received ART timely as scheduled as compared to 62% of
pregnant mothers counseled and tested for HIV at the ANC and of them only 43%
were provided with ART in 2010. Generally, for women and infants adhering to the
PMTCT programme, results show that new HIV infection, morbidity and mortality
were very low. Therefore, treating maternal HIV infection on early diagnosis remains
to be critical to avoid progression of HIV infection, reducing morbidity and mortality
which eventually ensures a generation that is free from HIV infection is born