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There has been growing concern over maternal under-nutrition and its effects on pregnancy outcome. The term maternal under-nutrition is complex and rather ambiguous and fails to reflect a clear definition. Defining maternal under-nutrition will help improve diagnosis, monitoring and evaluation of the impact of under-nourishment in women to prevent associated birth outcomes. There is a direct link between maternal under-nutrition and undesired birth outcomes such as intrauterine growth restriction, pre-term labour and prematurity. This is likely to give rise to long lasting effects. Methodology Walker and Avant’s strategic eight-step method of concept analysis was used in analyzing the concept of maternal under-nutrition. Walker and Avant stress the importance of antecedents and attributes in describing a concept of interest. Literature search was done in one month using Google Scholar, Pub Med and Medline as search engines. Results There are several definitions of maternal under-nutrition available online which lacks standardization. The definition for maternal malnutrition was multi-varied in some instances, it was based on clinical evaluation yet in others it was based on BMI calculations and Mid Upper Arm Circumference. Conclusion Malnutrition is both seen in over-nutrition and under-nutrition. For the purpose of this paper we look at malnutrition as it relates to under-nutrition as it is of concern to less developed countries in particular southern Africa. Maternal under-nutrition is perceived to indirectly result in increased mortality and morbidities during the perinatal period. Maternal under-nourishment should be evaluated using BMI, Mid Upper Arm Circumference, skin fold and unintended weight loss for consecutive encounters using a standard scale.

Missed Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) visits have contributed to the delayed achievement of elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Missed visits promote attrition from prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV program and antiretroviral drug resistance. The purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence of missed PMTCT visits and its associated predictors. A descriptive cross sectional survey was carried out at a District Hospital in Goromonzi, Zimbabwe. Fifty-three women completed closed-ended questionnaires pertaining to PMTCT visits and exposure to PMTCT activities. A total of 24.5% missed at least one scheduled PMTCT visit. Statistically significant predictors of not missing a PMTCT visit were satisfaction with family support (β = −0.73, p = 0.029) and level of satisfaction with PMTCT services (β = −0.00076; p = 0.04). The number of days by which scheduled visits were missed were inversely correlated with visit number (β = −2.99, p = 0.04). Enhanced family support and quality improvement to improve patient satisfaction may reduce missed visits. Availing women with a more active role in PMTCT may also reduce the prevalence of missed visits.

Background : Poor retention in the prevention of women in prevention of vertical transmission programs remains a formidable common setback in elimination of HIV/AIDS. It creates new problems such as poor health outcomes and increased incidence of vertical transmission of HIV. There is a dearth of qualitative information to explain poor retention of women in prevention of mother‑to‑child transmission (PMTCT) programs in Zimbabwe. The purpose of the study was to explore the enablers and barriers of retention of women in PMTCT programs. Methods : This was a basic qualitative study conducted at four health centers in Zimbabwe. Four audiotaped focus group discussions were conducted with 34 pregnant or breastfeeding women coming for PMTCT services at the health centers. Descriptive statistics was used for sample demographics. Transcripts were analyzed through latent content analysis based on the Graneheim and Lundman method. Results : Maternal determination, a four‑tier support system, and an inspiring health package were enablers to retention in the PMTCT program while uninspired individual engagement, paternalism, and undesirable PMTCT‑related events were barriers to retention of women in the PMTCT program. Conclusions : Reinforcing hope for the women and their children, active management of side effects of antiretroviral medicine, consistent peer support, enhancing confdentiality among community cadres, and commitment from community or religious leaders may improve retention of women in PMTCT programs; for women with HIV during pregnancy, delivery and post‑natal care. Keywords : HIV infection, prevention and control, retention, vertical infection transmission

Lifestyle modification is an important component of long-term management of patients with diabetes mellitus. The objectives of the cross-sectional study were to measure the level of adherence to lifestyle modification, to identify the factors influencing adherence to lifestyle modification, to measure the prevalence of diabetes complications among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The sample comprised 119 participants who were diabetes mellitus type 2 patients registered at the study site, aged 18 years and above , could converse in English or Shona, and had been diagnosed within a period of 2 years. They were selected using simple random sampling with replacement. Data was collected through an interviewer administered questionnaire.. Adherence to lifestyle modification was low (7.56%). Factors influencing adherence to lifestyle modification; for diet they include, lack of money (21.01%), attending functions (15.13%), lack of satiety (12.61%), tempting foods (12.61%); for exercises they include, illness (26.89%), lack of time (18.49%), fatigue (15.13%) and no education (10.92%) . The most common complications were retinopathy (79.83%), peripheral neuropathy (78.99%) and sexual dysfunction (44.54%). A weak negative linear relationship was shown between adherence to lifestyle modification and the total number of diabetes complications (r= -0.1398, p = 0.1295) but was not

Worldwide, 30% of all men, (665 million), are circumcised for various reasons including cultural, religious and medical reasons. This figure is too low, considering that it is projected that by the end of 2015 80% of all males should have been circumcised in order to reduce sexual transmission of HIV infection by 50% by 2025. Though prevalence of male circumcision is high in Jewish, Islamic and Muslim countries where it is about 98%, in some parts of the world, it is less than 5%. The purpose of this study was to assess the level of knowledge of medical benefits of male circumcision among pregnant women aged 18-35 years at Parirenyatwa Antenatal Clinic in Harare, Zimbabwe. The study was conducted with a convenience sample of 30 pregnant women. Data was collected from February to March 2013 using structured questionnaires. The health belief model was the guiding framework for the study. Permission to carry out the study was granted by the respective institutional review boards and all participants gave written consent. Data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel. Results indicated that 66.7% knew that male circumcision is a preventive method of HIV. Twenty five (83.3%) were aware that it was easier to be infected with HIV if he is not circumcised that when he is circumcised. Ten percent of the respondents demonstrated low knowledge of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision while 53.3% had moderate knowledge and 36.7% had high levels of knowledge about VMMC. It follows from the study that women need to be actively involved in the VMMC programme.

Context: In 2013, the world Health Organization endorsed Option B plus as a strategy towards elimination of vertical transmission of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). The purpose of the study was to examine the Option B+ trends and outcome predictors in Zimbabwe. Aims: to examine the PMTCT trends in Mashonaland East Province in Zimbabwe to determine the programmatic correlates of reduced MTCT in the first three years of introduction of PMTCT option B+. Settings and Design: Ecological study in Mashonaland East Province, Zimbabwe. Methods and Materials: The study was based on Option B plus data from the Provincial Health information system. Spatial mapping of MTCT rates was done using ArcMap 10.1. Statistical Analysis Used: Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression of the correlates of MTCT rates using R software based on step-wise Akaike information criterion. Results: The MTCT rate for Mashonaland East was 5.3% in 2014, 5.2% in 2015 and 4.0% in 2016. The predictors for reduced PMTCT included: booking the pregnancy with a known HIV positive status (β= -0.011, SEB=0.0035), arriving in labour and delivery with unknown HIV status (β= -0.029, SEB=0.0078), testing HIV positive at retesting in labour and delivery (β= - 0.04; SEB=0.03), women with unknown HIV status within 24 months post-delivery (β= - 0.0044; SEB=0.0032) and identification of HIV exposed infants within 72 hours of birth (β= - 0.01; SEB=0.0026). Conclusions: PMTCT Option B+ was associated with a decline in MTCT rate. Intensive psychosocial support of pregnant or nursing women may facilitate reduction of MTCT rates.