Active support of nurses is critical for effective implementation of the revised World Health Organization (WHO) HIV treatment guidelines, MaryAnn Vitiello and Suzanne Willard state in a letter published in the August 2010 online edition of AIDS.
The authors are nurses who work in countries which receive US PEPFAR support, and they are affiliated with the International Training and Education Center on Health (I-TECH) and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation respectively.
While a well-informed and highly skilled nursing workforce is considered essential for all national health care systems, in reality it just doesn’t happen, note the authors.
Nurses are on the front lines of care, represent the largest group of health care workers and have the most interaction with women and children, highlight the authors.
Recognising and understanding the training and support needs of those who interact with women and children affected by HIV – nurses (as well as clinical officers, midwives, physicians and the community)- is vital to ensuring the successful implementation of the guidelines, and an integral part of a comprehensive approach to the prevention of mother-to-child transmission, Vitiello and Willard note.
Nurses are proven leaders in HIV treatment and care, often under the most trying of circumstances, and nurses in both resource-rich and resource-poor settings continue to adapt standards and practices to meet the needs of their patients, say the authors.
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