The expanding role of the African nurse and midwife in paediatric HIV

This change may be especially relevant for children. Nurses and midwives have always been the frontline of paediatric health care, and are engaged in the continuum of care before infants are even born. They are essential in monitoring antenatal development, providing safe and healthy deliveries, identifying neonatal complications, and administering critical immunisations. Maternal and Child Health (MCH) clinics are typically staffed by nurses and midwives, and a doctor may or may not be available for consultation. This setting is often where nurses and midwives are making the first impact on children affected by HIV. Counselling and testing pregnant women, providing those who are HIV-positive with medications for prevention of mother-tochild transmission (PMTCT), and dispensing preventive medications to exposed infants