Engaging Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) may be critical to preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) in Nigeria. We integrated TBAs into Primary Health Centers (PHCs) and provided the TBAs with HIV counselling and testing (HCT) training for PMTCT (TAP-In). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of TAP-In on HCT uptake among pregnant women. A quasi-experimental design was used for this study. Twenty PHCs were assigned to the intervention group that integrated TAP-In and 20 were assigned to the control group. Data were collected six months prior to the initiation of TAP-In and six months post, using antenatal clinic registries. Intervention PHCs more than doubled the number of pregnant women who received HCT in their catchment area post TAP-In while control PHCs had no significant change. After initiating TAP-In, intervention PHCs provided almost three times more HCT than the control PHCs (p<0.01) with TBA provided over half of the HCT post TAP-In. The TAP-In model was effective for increasing HCT among pregnant women.

Adolescents and youths are at high risk due to knowledge gap and behavior risks related to HIV. Despite the well-known need for protection from HIV infections and other reproductive health risks, being an adolescent coupled with social and economic status could limit access to information and services. This is a study to ascertain the HIV/AIDS Knowledge and behaviour-risk among in-school adolescents and youths in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. It is a descriptive cross-sectional study involving1831 in-school adolescents selected by multi-stage sampling technique. Females showed higher knowledge at 52.2±20.1 than males at 47.5±20.3 (p<0.001). Also the urban youths had higher knowledge (47.1±20.8) than rural schools (41.3±20.3). Conversely, males displayed higher behaviour risk at 44.8±24.5 than the female at 39.9±24.6 (p<0.001). Highest behaviour risk was observed in age group 16-20 years (51.2±25.8). Schools in urban setting had higher behaviour risk (56.1±25.5) than rural schools (41.3±23.7), while knowledge of HIV transmission was highest as 63.8% of the respondent scored ≥50 in 5 HIV questions on knowledge of transmission. Also 48% (370) of the 778 participants who ever had sex had used condom while 50% (915/1831) of the study population were willing to abstain from sex till marriage. There is a strong need for appropriate regular and intensified HIV/AIDS risk reduction interventions to capture the attention of youths especially males, and to ensure sustainable and effective outcomes in secondary schools of Ebonyi state Nigeria.

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development meetings were held with university faculty, UMB, and CCCRN. The training capacity of facility and faculty were developed based on a needs assessment. UNN faculty and UMB/ CCCRN faculty taught the course jointly. Evaluation methods including pre/post tests, OSCE's, evaluation forms, and logbooks were jointly developed. Course alumni were followed up at 6 and 18 months using online surveys and telephone interviews to assess how useful the course was to them at their current workplaces. Outcome and Evaluation: The first course was piloted in 2013 with 30 postgraduate doctors and MPH students. The mean OSCE score was 51% and the mean post-test score was 75% with an improvement of 22% from the pre-test; a follow-up exam six months later showed a mean score of 74%. In regression analysis, pretest score was strongly associated with post-test score (0.56, (p < 0.001), and moderately associated with OSCE (0.28, p ¼ 0.04). Online surveys revealed trainees continued to use knowledge and skills gained from the course .The course was highly rated on immediate and follow up evaluations.

Introduction: About 65% of deliveries in Nigeria (including HIV infected women) take place in settings like traditional birth attendants (TBAs). Though TBA involvement in PMTCT has some challenges, their success stories of increased HIV counseling and testing (HCT) uptake among pregnant women remains a reason for training, supervising and successfully integrating them into formal health centres and to reach the PMTCT target population. This is a brief review of roles and challenges of traditional birth attendants in Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV in Nigeria. Methods: Keywords from objectives of review are MTCT, PMTCT and TBA which were used to search for related literatures through online libraries like national and international journals example medline and pubmed including google. About 62 related literatures/studies were initially generated and then narrowed down to 21 literatures which were selected because they met the inclusion criteria of less than 10 years and related to objective of review. Findings: Because 65% of deliveries take place at non-formal settings like TBAs, they are being trained/engaged mainly by NGOs to be involved in PMTCT. Major success stories include; improved PMTCT knowledge and practices after training (p = 0.01) and increased HCT uptake at the TBAs (p = 0.001). Major challenges include low education level, reluctance to refer HIV positive patients in absence of incentives, poor reporting mechanism and poor-quality assessment/supervisions. National plans on accelerated PMTCT and elimination of MTCT currently advices that TBAs be integrated into formal health centres to further reach target population and cover the PMTCT gap in Nigeria. Conclusion: TBAs have the potential of bridging the gap between formal PMTCT delivery points and the cultural communities where majority of the target population-pregnant women- live. Though challenges of TBA involvement are visible, support for training/retaining and quality assessment/supervision among TBAs could be the answer to the challenges of reaching the PMTCT target group and reaching the PMTCT target in Nigeria.