Cameroon

Local March to Prevent Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission Seeks to Enlist Male Participation

Publication Date

Local March to Prevent Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission Seeks to Enlist Male Participation

Publication Date

BAMENDA, CAMEROON – Emmanuella Djomoa, 36, is one of the pregnant women who took part in a march sponsored by UNICEF last week in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s Northwest region, advocating for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.


She says the march was a positive initiative to encourage women to seek antenatal care early during their pregnancies to reduce chances of transmitting HIV to their babies. But she says that it is difficult for pregnant women to persuade husbands to come with them.


“When I told my husband yesterday that we have been asked to come to antenatal with our husbands, he laughed and said to me: ‘Am I also pregnant? Why on Earth should I follow you to antenatal?’” Djomoa says.


UNICEF sponsored the march in Bamenda last week to advocate for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV last week through early antenatal care. The campaign stressed the importance of husbands accompanying their wives to attain antenatal care, a concept many husbands say they reject. But organizers are confident that the project will be successful.


About 500 people participated in an advocacy march along Bamenda’s Commercial Avenue last week to advocate for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV by seeking early antenatal care. Women who were pregnant, women who were not pregnant, women who wore pillows or cloths under their shirts in solidarity with pregnant women and men of various ages participated in the march.


The prevalence of HIV and AIDS among pregnant women in Cameroon is 7.6 percent, according to a 2012 UNICEF report. Mother-to-child transmission of HIV is the most significant source of infection in children younger than 15.


The march was executed by the Northwest regional delegation of the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family. Judy Abong, the regional delegate, addressed the crowd about the benefits of the project, being carried out in seven of Cameroon’s 10 regions.


Abong encouraged pregnant women and their husbands to seek antenatal care six weeks into pregnancy at local health facilities to ensure the safety of their babies. She emphasized the importance of early care in preventing the transmission of HIV from mothers living with HIV to their babies.


“Every baby born into this world deserves a healthy life, a life free from HIV/AIDS,” Abong said.


March advocates emphasized the importance of wives and husbands attending antenatal care in order to both get tested for HIV and, if HIV-positive, to receive advice on how to prevent the transmission of the virus to their babies. But women and men alike say that although husbands support antenatal care for their wives, they refuse to accompany them or to get the necessary testing.


Shu Peter, 38, one of the people riding a motorcycle in the march, says the concept of husbands accompanying their wives to attain antenatal care is funny.

“Wonders will never end,” he says, laughing. “Why should I accompany my wife to antenatal when I am not pregnant? Why are people struggling to complicate this world? No one should force me to know my HIV status.”

He claps his hands loudly, sealing his opposition. He says he is at the march because someone contacted him to come and participants receive gifts.


Each participant received a T-shirt, 1,000 francs ($2), a bottle of mineral water and a packet of biscuits. Some say that attendance at the march would have been less if not for these gifts.


The march will follow with a capacity-building workshop for 50 members of various local organizations. The trainees will be charged with mobilizing their communities to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV through early antenatal care.

Training activities that cover the prevention of mother-to-child transmission in Cameroon rose from 1,327 in 2007 to 2,067 in 2010, according to the UNICEF report. This was accompanied by an increase in the percentage of women who were tested for HIV and AIDS during their pregnancies from 77 percent to 82 percent during the same period. The number of HIV-positive pregnant women taking preventative anti-retroviral treatment increased by 10 percent from 2008 to 2010, though this was still less than 60 percent of those who needed it.


Dr. Julius Sama, regional delegate of public health to the Northwest, accompanied the advocacy team in the ambulance at the march.


“The Northwest woman needs to be sensitized on the relevance of antenatal,” he says. “Many pregnant women come to know their status late into the pregnancy, and this limits the chances of preventing the baby from contracting the disease.”


He says the UNICEF project is a brilliant initiative.


“If by the end of this project, our hospitals witness an increase in the number of women attending antenatal early into their pregnancies, then we will be very proud of UNICEF,” he says. “We know the project is going to be successful.”