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Role Of And Nature Of Public Health Research

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UMUHOZA Marie Chantal,
MMPH 00077 – UNIT 1 – INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT
The Role and Nature of Public Health Research
Selecting a Research Topic
REASEARCH TOPIC TITTLE:
Elimination of the Mother To Child Transmission of HIV (eMTCT) program: An evaluation of practices by health care workers in selected Primary health care centers, Zambia.
IMPORTANCE OF THE CHOSEN HEALTH ISSUE:
In Zambia, 13% of adults age 15-49 are infected with HIV. 15% of them are women and 11 percent are men (dhsprogram.com, 2015). 16.4% of pregnant women attending antenatal clinics are HIV positive and 35% of all HIV exposed babies are born HIV positive (Unicef.org, 2015). This also in line with the National AIDS Council statistics where they said that 80,000 infant born …show more content…

The PMTCT service scale up contributed in reduction of HIV transmission from 24% in 2009 to 12% in 2012 and 9% in 2009 (Avert.org, no date), however, indicators such us pregnant women who received effective ART to reduce the HIV transmission to their babies as well as the number of HIV exposed infant being tested within their first 2 months reduced considerably (Avert.org, no date).
In addition to providing ART drugs, Zambia was also able to eradicate some of the issues such as lack of male partners’ involvement, stigma and discrimination and significantly reduced the number of pregnant mother delivering at home.
GAPS IN KNOWLEDGE ON THE TOPIC
It is still to be evaluated if there is any possible association between the low achievement of eMTCT and the HCW in Zambia. Furthermore, an evaluation of a possible association of the poor attitude of HCW and the lack of knowledge in PMTCT practices is to be identified.
In Nigeria, it was reported that there “there was a wide gap exists between the knowledge of and attitude towards PMTCT of HIV/AIDS” (Aishat and Olubunmi, 2016). The research suggest that Quality and access of PMTCT services is likely to be affected if countries do not make effort in continuous training of HCW.
PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT:
Despite the fact that the Implementation of the above mentioned guidelines contributed in reducing the number of HIV infected children, the country has not yet reached its goal of eliminating HIV

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