In 2015, Dr. Melissa Watt received a small grant from the Duke Center for AIDS Research to explore HIV care engagement for women initiating ART during pregnancy in Cape Town, South Africa. This research, conducted in collaboration with researchers at the University of Cape Town, helped lay the foundation for the team’s current work in Tanzania and Dr. Watt’s broader research program on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT).
In Cape Town, researchers conducted repeat interviews with twenty women during pregnancy and again within three months after giving birth, to explore and understand the challenges women faced and the support they received navigating their HIV care as a new mother. Disclosure of women’s HIV status emerged as an important theme, with findings detailed in a manuscript recently published in AIDS and Behavior. The Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI) featured the article on its website and in its newsletter.
You can read the research brief and find a link to the article here.