Experiences of Mothers Using the Prevention Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) Program to Prevent Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Transmission in Rwanda

The purpose of my study was to explore the experiences of mothers using the PMTCT Program to prevent HIV transmission in Rwanda. Critical ethnography was the research design for my study. The intersectionality framework guided this study. The population of my research study included HIV + women; healthcare providers working in the PMTCT program; policymakers; and PMTCT program leaders. Purposive sampling was used to recruit research participants. Observation, field notes, individual and focus group interviews, and document reviews were used to collect the data. Data analysis included reflexivity, thematic analysis, and the use of ATLAS.ti software to facilitate analysis and organize the data. Ethical approval was sought and received from the University of Alberta Ethics Committee (Pro00096520), and the permission to access and collect the data within Butare University Teaching Hospital (BUTH) was requested and received from the BUTH Ethics Committee (Ref: CHUB/DG/SA/02/0401/2020). Themes that emerged from the findings were: factors that influence and challenge the uptake of the PMTCT program; identities intersecting with the uptake of the PMTCT program; health system factors affecting the delivery of the PMTCT program; and experiences of HIV+ mothers during the prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal periods to prevent HIV transmission. The experiences of mothers using the PMTCT program to prevent MTCT of HIV in Rwanda are fashioned by a complex intersection of gender roles and norms, cultural ideology, power relationships, and a system of domination and oppression; as well as other potentially significant social determinants of health identified in the study findings.