|
Back to Index
Responding
to the PMTCT challenge
PLUS
News
January 18, 2008 http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76327
Harare - A new
five-year initiative is set to improve access to HIV/AIDS treatment
and prevention services for pregnant mothers in Zimbabwe.
The scheme, launched
in Murewa District 86km northeast of the capital, Harare, on Wednesday
will allow the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF)
to expand its Zimbabwe Family AIDS Initiatives and national prevention
of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programme.
"If we reached all
pregnant women in Zimbabwe who are HIV positive, we could prevent
thousands of infections each year," said Pam Barnes, president
of EGPAF.
The United States Agency
for International Development (USAID) will provide the initiative
with US$12.5 million, the United Kingdom's Department for International
Development (DFID) US$ 2 million, with additional support from the
United States Centres for Disease Control, the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation and the multinational Johnson & Johnson.
More than 17,000 children
are infected with HIV every year in Zimbabwe, a figure "that
is unacceptable", said James McGee, the US ambassador to Zimbabwe,
who attended the launch of the initiative.
According to the Ministry
of Health and Child Welfare (MOHCW), 1.3 million Zimbabweans are
living with HIV/AIDS and an estimated 22,000 are newly infected
every year. Of the 360,000 women that fall pregnant annually, 60,000
are HIV positive.
"It will take commitment
and strong leadership to overcome the challenges that we are all
facing. And, together, in strong partnership, we will make a difference,"
McGee said.
Expanding
service delivery
Zimbabwe
began its PMTCT programme in 1999 with a pilot in four districts;
the programme is now nation wide.
"We want to make
sure we reduce HIV infection in children by 95 percent by 2010,
it's a huge target but as Zimbabweans we are resilient," said
Owen Mugurungi, chief coordinator, AIDS & TB (tuberculosis)
at the MOHCW.
EGPAF has provided direct
support for PMTCT to more than 330 public health facilities in over
24 districts in Zimbabwe, helping over 280,000 pregnant women gain
access to PMTCT services.
Mary Teurai Zanga (28)
from Chitungwiza, a satellite town 35km from Harare, enrolled on
a PMTCT programme after she tested HIV positive in 2001.
"In 2005 I got pregnant
and was given Nevirapine [an antiretroviral drug that reduces mother
to child transmission] when I had labour pains. When my baby girl,
Danai, was born I exclusively breast fed for 12 weeks" Zanga
told IRIN/PlusNews
With an irrepressible
smile, she added that when she took Danai for testing she was found
to be HIV negative.
According to health minister
David Parirenyatwa, the economic hardships faced by Zimbabwe had
impacted on the health sector. But despite the challenges, the MOHCW
was doing all it could to help.
"As of December
2007, over 7,200 HIV infected children were being prescribed antiretroviral
treatment", he said, and according to the MOHCW, 96,000 people
in Zimbabwe are currently receiving ARVs compared to a target of
100,000 for 2007.
In November 2007 Zimbabwe
registered a second decline in HIV prevalence with rates, falling
by 10 percent over the past five years. Government statistics now
put the level among the adult population at 15.6 percent.
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
