Opportunities and Challenges in Implementing PMTCT Services in Fishing Community of Lake Victoria of Tanzania Side: A Cross Sectional Qualitative Survey with Health Care Providers

                                               http://austinpublishinggroup.com/hiv-aids-research/

HIV/AIDS is still a global public health problem. Eastern and southern African regions are most affected part in the world. To date, tremendous efforts have been made to control the spread of HIV globally including Sub-Saharan Africa. The Most at Risk Populations (MARPs) have been identified and strategically targeted for control of the spread of HIV. These included long-distance truck drivers, military personnel, female sex workers, refugees, internally displaces persons, plantation workers miners, teachers, female traders on borders and fishermen. Reports indicate that efforts made amongst these MARPs vary significantly; for instance, fishing communities are reported to be inadequately served with HIV/AIDS services. Similar challenges had previously been reported. All the past and present reports assert that women in these communities are mostly affected with HIV/AIDS compared to men.

Duringthe past decade, significant progress has been made in scaling-up PMTCT services to pregnant women, particularly in resource constrained countries. PMTCT seeks to eliminate the heavy burden MTCT presses on individuals, families. However, these progresses vary from country to country and within countries. For example, in areas such as fishing communities of Lake Victoria, where HIV prevalence continues to be higher than the national prevalence average. Challenges hindering the reduction of spread of HIV in fishing communities are numerous. These include health systems while other are from the community all of these challenges have been negatively affecting the uptake of HIV/AIDS services including PMTCT in fishing communities of Lake Victoria. 

A number ofstudies have been conducted regarding HIV/AIDS in fishing communities of Lake Victoria and the rest of Africa; these include access to health care status, negotiation, and HIV risks among female migrants HIV self-testing (HIVST) understanding the socio-structural context of high HIV transmission HIV prevalence and service uptake. Nevertheless, none of the above studies has focused on PMTCT service provision despite the fact that women and children are reported to be the most affected by HIV/AIDS than men in these communities, besides HIV/AIDS health services have been reported to be inadequate or unavailable. This study therefore aimed at exploring the socioeconomic, cultural and structural opportunities and challenges influencing health workers in implementing PMTCT services in fishing community of Lake Victoria of Tanzania side.