Traditional birth attendants could help prevent perinatal HIV transmission

Traditional birth attendants could have a key role in preventing perinatal transmission of HIV. Bulterys and colleagues (p 222) say that it may be possible to train traditional birth attendants to perform confidential HIV counselling and testing. With appropriate training, supervision, and support they could offer HIV prevention services and help with antiretroviral prophylaxis at delivery. Most traditional birth attendants are illiterate, argues Walraven (p 224), and this will have major constraints in training them to provide high quality care.

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Relevant Article

Role of traditional birth attendants in preventing perinatal transmission of HIV • Commentary: Involving traditional birth attendants in prevention of HIV transmission needs careful consideration

Marc Bulterys, Mary Glenn Fowler, Nathan Shaffer, Pius M Tih, Alan E Greenberg, Etienne Karita, Hoosen Coovadia, Kevin M De Cock, and Gijs Walraven
BMJ 2002 324: 222-225. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]