Community Focal Mothers Keep Mothers and Babies in Care in Eswatini

Keeping mother-baby pairs retained in care is important so that infants receive HIV testing and can start on antiretroviral treatment if they are HIV-positive. However, in the Kingdom of Eswatini, less than half of HIV-exposed infants are retained in care long enough to receive their final HIV test at 18 months or after the end of breastfeeding.

This success story documents AIDSFree's efforts in Eswatini working with community focal mothers to help mother-baby pairs remain in care and receive HIV and maternal and child health services. 

Between June 2017 and November 2018, AIDSFree demonstrated success with this program, with over 400 mother-baby pairs retained in care and attending their facility visits per the Ministry of Health schedule. In the 18 months of implementation, 82% of mother-baby pairs enrolled missed no visits and completed all visits on time; 100% of those who did were issued referrals and successfully linked back to care. None of the mother-baby pairs were lost to follow-up. JSI/AIDSFree Project. 2019.