Barriers to and Opportunities for Male Partner Involvement in Antenatal Care in Efforts to Eliminate Mother-to-child Transmission of Human Immuno-deficiency Virus in Kenya: Systematic Review
Masaba, Brian Barasa; Mmusi-Phetoe, Rose M
Introduction:
Men’s involvement in antenatal care (ANC) is intended to encourage husbands to support women’s care and associated interventions, including
prevention of mother-to-child transmission from pregnancy to delivery, and throughout the postnatal period. The present study aimed to
systematically review the barriers and opportunities for male partner involvement in antenatal care in efforts to eliminate mother-to-child
transmission of Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Kenya.
Methods:
A systematic search of articles was from the following databases; Scopus, Science Direct, PUBMED, OVID, and Google scholar. The reference
list of included studies was manually searched for possible additional eligible articles. The searches were conducted from May 2019 to April 2020.
Qualitative analysis was done and data were presented in thematic domains.
Results:
The search generated 2208 articles, of which only 19 met the inclusion criteria. The major findings were discussed under two thematic domains: 1)
Barriers: Knowledge, Social-cultural/economic factors, Institutional factors, and Age. 2) Opportunities: Skilled Birth Attendant, Human
Immunodeficiency virus-free infant and Human Immunodeficiency virus testing.
Conclusion:
The review notes that the main barriers to male partner involvement in antenatal care in efforts to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of Human
Immunodeficiency virus in Kenya include; socio-cultural factors, the low maternal-child health education by the male partner, and institutional
factors. It further provides insight on the opportunities associated with male partner involvement in antenatal care/prevention of mother-to-child
transmission, which includes; having Human Immunodeficiency virus-free infants and increased, skilled birth deliveries. The review strongly calls
out for sustainable initiatives to incorporate males into the antenatal care/prevention of mother to child transmission programs.
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