Involving male partners in prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV in South Africa should be a high priority at the policy, facility, and community levels, argue Wessel van den Berg and colleagues in PLOS Medicine. Van den Berg, of Sonke Gender Justice in Cape Town, South Africa, and researchers from the University of Cape Town, University of British Columbia, British Columbia Children's Hospital, and Médecins Sans Frontières discuss changes required to increase male involvement in addressing this health challenge, based on published data indicating that involved male partners can improve antiretroviral adherence during pregnancy, decrease infant HIV infection, and increase infant HIV-free survival.
The authors state: "Possibly the most significant challenge is that participation rates of male partners in couples counselling and testing interventions have been very low." They note many African country - and district-level PMTCT guidelines are nonetheless vague in their language on male partner involvement. To improve male partner participation, the authors propose that guidelines are redrawn to actively engage men as supportive partners in maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH), link MNCH service provision to male health needs and "encourage men to challenge harmful gender-inequitable beliefs and behaviors."
The article is the latest addition to the Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF)-PLOS Collection on Maternal Health, a freely available, open access collection of outstanding research and commentary intended to improve women's and children's health worldwide through access to maternal health knowledge.