Continuous care and support for HIV-infected mothers after delivery was often not seen as a need to be addressed [12, 33] . In practice, the fragmentation of the health care system into specialized vertical pillars including a vertical programme for HIV/AIDS is a major obstacle to providing a continuum of care. Medical treatment, including ARV provision and medications for OI, is increasingly available but is often not accessible to PLHIV because of a weak referral system and social stigma [3, 7] . The vertical organization of the health care system and the contradictory mandates between sectors obstruct the effective collaboration and referral between different services that the women and their families need. A lack of multisectoral collaboration is a barrier to effective information exchange for patients between national staff in different facilities [34] . Providing information about topics such as abortion, clean needle exchange programmes and condoms is also politically sensitive in voluntary counselling and testing sites.