Couple oriented counselling improves male partner involvement in sexual and reproductive health of a couple: Evidence from the ANRS PRENAHTEST randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: Male partner involvement (MPI) has been recognized as a priority area to be strengthened in Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. We explored the impact of Couple Oriented Counselling (COC) in MPI in sexual and reproductive health and associated factors. METHOD: From February 2009 to October 2011, pregnant women were enrolled at their first antenatal care visit (ANC-1) and followed up until 6 months after delivery in the Mother and Child Center of the Chantal Biya Foundation within the randomized prenahtest multicentric trial. The MPI index was defined using sexual and reproductive health behaviour variables by using multiple correspondence analysis followed by mixed classification. Men were considered as highly involved if they had shared their HIV test results with their partner, had discussed on HIV or condom used, had contributed financially to ANC, had accompanied their wife to ANC or had practiced safe sex. Factors associated to MPI were investigated by the logistic model with GEE estimation approach. RESULTS: A total of 484 pregnant women were enrolled. The median age of the women was 27 years (IQR: 23-31) and 55.23% had a gestational age greater than 16 weeks at ANC-1. Among them, HIV prevalence was 11.9% (95% CI: 9.0-15.4). The median duration of the women's relationship with their partner was 84 months (IQR: 48-120). MPI index at 6 months after delivery was significantly greater in the COC group than the classical counselling group (14.8% vs 8,82%; p = 0,043; Fig 1). The partners of the women who participated in the COC were more likely to be involved during follow up than others (aOR = 1.45; 95% CI = 1.00-2.10). Partners with no incoming activity (aOR = 2.90; 95% CI = 1.96-4.29), who did not used violence within the couple (aOR = 1.70; 95% CI = 1.07-2.68), and whose partner came early for ANC-1 (aOR = 1.37; 95% CI = 1.00-1.89) were more likely to be involved than others. CONCLUSION: MPI remains low in stable couples and COC improves partner involvement. Our findings also support the need of strengthening outreach towards "stable" couples and addressing barriers. This could go a long way to improve PMTCT outcomes in Cameroon. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PRENAHTEST, NCT01494961. Registered 15 December 2011-Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01494961.

Couple-oriented prenatal HIV counseling for HIV primary prevention: an acceptability study.

BACKGROUND: A large proportion of the 2.5 million new adult HIV infections that occurred worldwide in 2007 were in stable couples. Feasible and acceptable strategies to improve HIV prevention in a conjugal context are scarce. In the preparatory phase of the ANRS 12127 Prenahtest multi-site HIV prevention trial, we assessed the acceptability of couple-oriented post-test HIV counseling (COC) and men's involvement within prenatal care services, among pregnant women, male partners and health care workers in Cameroon, Dominican Republic, Georgia and India. METHODS: Quantitative and qualitative research methods were used: direct observations of health services; in-depth interviews with women, men and health care workers; monitoring of the COC intervention and exit interviews with COC participants. RESULTS: In-depth interviews conducted with 92 key informants across the four sites indicated that men rarely participated in antenatal care (ANC) services, mainly because these are traditionally and programmatically a woman's domain. However men's involvement was reported to be acceptable and needed in order to improve ANC and HIV prevention services. COC was considered by the respondents to be a feasible and acceptable strategy to actively encourage men to participate in prenatal HIV counseling and testing and overall in reproductive health services. CONCLUSIONS: One of the keys to men's involvement within prenatal HIV counseling and testing is the better understanding of couple relationships, attitudes and communication patterns between men and women, in terms of HIV and sexual and reproductive health; this conjugal context should be taken into account in the provision of quality prenatal HIV counseling, which aims at integrated PMTCT and primary prevention of HIV.