Occupational risk factors for HIV infection among traditional birth attendants in Copperbelt province, Zambia

Today we are featuring African Journal of Health Sciences vol.17 no. 3-4, which includes "Occupational risk factors for HIV infection among traditional birth attendants in Copperbelt province, Zambia" by Siziya, Seter & Hazemba, Alice. 

In this issue, a cross sectional survey was conducted among traditional birth attendants (TBA) in order to determine overall occupational health risks associated with HIV infection. A sum of 370 individual TBAs were recruited for the study. 67 (18.1%) of the individuals were trained and the median age of all individuals was 50 years old. One of the key issues was the use of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for initial birth of the babies, which was reported by 22 (6.0%) of the 365 TBAs. Additionally, a total of 220 (59.6%) TBAs reported washing their hands with soap and water after contact with mothers and babies after the deliveries. Only 42 (11.5%) birth attendants used gloves all of the time when in contact with mothers and their babies. 

In summary, a total of 44 out of the 370 (11.9%) traditional birthing attendants tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). After adjusting for age, attendants who used mouth-to-mouth resuscitation were 6.02 (95%CI 1.97, 18.42) times likely to contract HIV than attendants who did not use this method of resuscitating the newborn babies. To conclude, the study suggests that the precautions for universal protection against the contraction of HIV was poor and that the use of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation of newborns should be highly discouraged. 

For this article and others from this issue, click here.