Factors influencing the choices of infant feeding of HIV-positive mothers in southern Ghana: the role of counsellors, mothers, families and socio-economic status

This study assessed the perspectives of HIV-positive mothers and family members (i.e., grandmothers and fathers) of infant feeding options for HIV-positive mothers in southern Ghana. This entailed individual interviews with 40 HIV-positive mothers with infants, and 6 focus group discussions with HIV-positive mothers, fathers and grandmothers of unknown status in two urban districts. All infants born to the HIV-positive mothers in both districts had been breastfed. Breastfeeding was initiated any time between three hours and three days following birth. While some of the infants had been exclusively breast-fed, none had been exclusively replacement fed. Early mixed feeding patterns are deeply entrenched and the adoption of either EBF or ERF or both, represents departures from the social norms. Barriers to replacement feeding by HIV-positive mothers' included cultural and familial influences, socio-economic factors (including cost of infant formula, and lack of access to resources (for example, fridges, clean water, fuel and others) which are necessary for the safe preparation and storage of formula milk and fear over stigma and discrimination. Interventions designed to promote safer infant feeding among HIV-infected mothers in these settings need to be mindful of these barriers (socio-economic, cultural and familial) that these women face. Failure by policy makers to incorporate these issues will continue to lead to a gap between well-intended policies and programmes, and actual practices of HIV-positive mothers

Corporate Identity: The Case of the University for Development Studies

The new competitive environment within the higher education sector is propelling most Universities to continuously embark on some thoughtful strategic and consistent marketization and planned effort to project their corporate image and reputation. Established a little over two decades ago, the University for Development Studies (UDS) as a higher educational institution is gradually moving from its growth stage to a matured staged. This requires the university to move from a comprehensive institution to a more focused entity. It is therefore extremely crucial to examine what makes the UDS unique and how the community perceive the University as an institution and finally, in what ways key stakeholders or actors can do to improve its corporate identity and reputation. The paper argues that the corporate identity and reputation of the University lie in its Community Development embedded programmes and the blended community-based teaching and learning model. The paper found that 69.84% of the respondents agree that the current corporate reputation of UDS was good. The paper also found several approaches to enhancing the corporate image of the university. These include a well-design marketing strategy; designing market-oriented academic programmes, establish more lecture series, and support quality research publications. Other recommendations for improving the corporate identity of the University are discussed. Keywords: corporate identity, University, corporate reputation, survey, Ghan

Individual and Community Perspectives, Attitudes, and Practices to Mother-to-Child-Transmission and Infant Feeding among HIV-Positive Mothers in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Literature Review

Objectives: International guidelines on infant feeding for HIV-positive mothers promote Exclusive Replacement Feeding (ERF) (infant formula or animal milk) or exclusive breastfeeding (with no supplements of any kind). A mixed feeding pattern, where breastfeeding is combined with other milks, liquid foods or solids, has been shown to increase the risk of transmission of HIV and is strongly discouraged. However, little is known about the ability of women to adhere to recommended feeding strategies to prevent mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV from breast milk. The objective of this study was to assess the individual and community-level factors that affect perspectives, attitudes and practices of HIV-positive mothers on MTCT and infant feeding in sub-Saharan Africa as documented in peer-reviewed and grey literature. Methods: This work is based on an extensive review of peer-reviewed articles and grey literature from the period 2000-2012. The literature search was carried out using electronic databases like, Medline Ovid, Google scholar, Pubmed and EBSCOhost. Both quantitative and qualitative studies written in English language on HIV and infant feeding with particular emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa were included. Results: The review found low adherence to the chosen infant feeding method by HIV-positive mothers. The following factors emerged as influencing infant feeding decisions: cultural and social norms; economic conditions; inadequate counselling; and mother’s level of education. Conclusions and Public Health Implications: Unless local beliefs and customs surrounding infant feeding is understood by policy makers and program implementers, Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) programs will only be partially successful in influencing feeding practices of HIV-positive women. Hence programs should provide affordable, acceptable, feasible, safe and sustainable feeding recommendations that do not erode strong cultural practices. Advice to HIV-positive mothers should be based on local conditions that are acceptable to the community