The Ministries of Health (MOH) welcome the new National Guidelines for PMTCT Peer Education and Psychosocial Support in Kenya: The Kenya Mentor Mother Program, which will provide guidance for the standardization and integration of peer education and psychosocial support services within the Kenyan national PMTCT program. These guidelines are an important part of the government’s strategy to reduce mother to child transmission of HIV (MTCT) to less than 5% through the national eMTCT Framework, aligned with the National Health Strategic Plan (NHSSPII), and Kenya National AIDS Strategic Plan (KNASP III 2009-13) Pillar III, which focuses on strengthening community capacity to contribute to universal access and social transformation.
Despite the increasing availability of clinical services in Kenya to prevent pediatric HIV infection and promote maternal health, many women still do not access, uptake or fully adhere to the care recommended for themselves and their babies. The reasons for this are complex and multi-faceted.
Quality approaches to peer education and psychosocial support can help overcome obstacles such as stigma, discrimination and denial; lack of accurate knowledge and information; skepticism about the possibility of living positively with HIV and having an HIV-negative baby; lack of male involvement in and support for MNCH; preference for traditional birth attendants; perceptions of poor service quality; and others, as evidenced by the Joint Review Mission and the National Formative Research reports on PMTCT and pediatric HIV programming.
As a signatory to the Global Plan on eMTCT, the Government of Kenya supports the principle that women living with HIV must be at the center of the response to the epidemic. Community engagement is critical in generating demand for maternal, newborn and child health and PMTCT services. The Government of Kenya also recognizes that Mentor Mothers play a critical role in task-shifting to promote health service quality improvement as well as uptake of, adherence to and retention in care.
These guidelines, coordinated through the Ministries of Health and in collaboration with implementing partners, will support the elimination of mother-to-child transmission through all four prongs at both the facility and community level, promote maternal and infant health and empower women. The PMTCT Technical Working Group led the process of development of the guidelines and was informed by recent program evidence, best practice findings and recommendations from national and global guidelines.
Guided and inspired by previous success stories and milestones, we are confident that the comprehensive implementation of these guidelines will reduce the devastating effects of stigma and discrimination, promote maternal and child health and improve the lives of Kenyans.