How to prevent mother to child HIV transmission
Apr 17, 2007
<b>By William Salmond</b><br><br>Transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child is still very high in Uganda. Some 25,000 children are infected with HIV each year and this is unacceptable. Prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS is the major concern of Elizabeth Glazer AIDS
By William Salmond
Transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child is still very high in Uganda. Some 25,000 children are infected with HIV each year and this is unacceptable. Prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS is the major concern of Elizabeth Glazer AIDS Pediatric Foundation. The Foundation was started by Elizabeth Glazer. In the 1980s she found that she was HIV positive as a result of a blood transfusion. Following that, she gave birth to her two children Ariel, her little girl who before she died painted the flowers that we use as our logo. Elizabeth passed on the virus unknowingly to Ariel and Jake, her son. Both of them became HIV positive. She was very confused about this because she did not understand what was going on. This was also true in Uganda also in the 1980s and the early 1990s. Because many of us did not know the whole story behind HIV.
Elizabeth went to see President Ronald Reagan, went to scientists and other politicians and said “please help me. I want to save my family but I think to do that I have to change the whole world.†In those days we only had the drug AZT and there were no pediatric formulations for that drug. It was only for adults. Little Ariel could not get any medicine to help her. So she died when she was seven years old and Elizabeth kept her painting -the flowers which became our logo.
Elizabeth continued with a lot of energy, helping scientists to understand the spread of HIV to babies. She kept asking them, “How do we stop the transmission of HIV to unborn babies?â€
Twenty years later, pediatric transmission of HIV has almost been eliminated in the United States. Less than 2% of pregnant women now pass the HIV infection to their children. Most pregnant women attend antenatal clinics, receive routine tests including HIV, receive care and treatment and if necessary antiretroviral drugs. Nutrition education is also important and for most American women reasonable nutrition is affordable. If a woman is HIV positive she can opt for a caesarian section at birth and then opt to feed the baby on formula milk instead of breastfeeding. All of these factors have helped reduce the transmission of HIV from mother to child.
Here in Uganda, the Foundation has been working since the year 2000. We used private funding up to the year 2003 and then received funding from the USAID through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and it has helped us extend the programme. We support the Ministry of Health to implement its PMTCT programme. We do this along with other partners.
We are working through the Ministry of Health antenatal clinics, labour wards and post natal/immunisation clinics in 20 districts of Uganda through 200 health facility sites. The mother swallows the drug nevirapine when labour begins and her baby is given the nevirapine syrup within the first 72 hours after birth. This cuts the risk of transmitting HIV by about 50% so it is a very good intervention.
I worked in Uganda for 10 years from 1988-1997 with World Learning when we started the AIDS Information Centre and its Post Test Club. At that time there was really no hope. People knew their HIV status and they knew they were going to die. They spoke aloud about living positively and how they got help from good nutrition but there were no drugs. I have been back here in Uganda for the past three years and what I am seeing now is so dramatically different. It is very exciting. Some 90,000 people are on ARVs so it is so wonderful and a statement to anyone in the world that Uganda has led the way.
The writer is the Country Director of the Elizabeth Glazer Paediatric AIDS Foundation
As told to Irene Nabusoba
Transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child is still very high in Uganda. Some 25,000 children are infected with HIV each year and this is unacceptable. Prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS is the major concern of Elizabeth Glazer AIDS Pediatric Foundation. The Foundation was started by Elizabeth Glazer. In the 1980s she found that she was HIV positive as a result of a blood transfusion. Following that, she gave birth to her two children Ariel, her little girl who before she died painted the flowers that we use as our logo. Elizabeth passed on the virus unknowingly to Ariel and Jake, her son. Both of them became HIV positive. She was very confused about this because she did not understand what was going on. This was also true in Uganda also in the 1980s and the early 1990s. Because many of us did not know the whole story behind HIV.
Elizabeth went to see President Ronald Reagan, went to scientists and other politicians and said “please help me. I want to save my family but I think to do that I have to change the whole world.†In those days we only had the drug AZT and there were no pediatric formulations for that drug. It was only for adults. Little Ariel could not get any medicine to help her. So she died when she was seven years old and Elizabeth kept her painting -the flowers which became our logo.
Elizabeth continued with a lot of energy, helping scientists to understand the spread of HIV to babies. She kept asking them, “How do we stop the transmission of HIV to unborn babies?â€
Twenty years later, pediatric transmission of HIV has almost been eliminated in the United States. Less than 2% of pregnant women now pass the HIV infection to their children. Most pregnant women attend antenatal clinics, receive routine tests including HIV, receive care and treatment and if necessary antiretroviral drugs. Nutrition education is also important and for most American women reasonable nutrition is affordable. If a woman is HIV positive she can opt for a caesarian section at birth and then opt to feed the baby on formula milk instead of breastfeeding. All of these factors have helped reduce the transmission of HIV from mother to child.
Here in Uganda, the Foundation has been working since the year 2000. We used private funding up to the year 2003 and then received funding from the USAID through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and it has helped us extend the programme. We support the Ministry of Health to implement its PMTCT programme. We do this along with other partners.
We are working through the Ministry of Health antenatal clinics, labour wards and post natal/immunisation clinics in 20 districts of Uganda through 200 health facility sites. The mother swallows the drug nevirapine when labour begins and her baby is given the nevirapine syrup within the first 72 hours after birth. This cuts the risk of transmitting HIV by about 50% so it is a very good intervention.
I worked in Uganda for 10 years from 1988-1997 with World Learning when we started the AIDS Information Centre and its Post Test Club. At that time there was really no hope. People knew their HIV status and they knew they were going to die. They spoke aloud about living positively and how they got help from good nutrition but there were no drugs. I have been back here in Uganda for the past three years and what I am seeing now is so dramatically different. It is very exciting. Some 90,000 people are on ARVs so it is so wonderful and a statement to anyone in the world that Uganda has led the way.
The writer is the Country Director of the Elizabeth Glazer Paediatric AIDS Foundation
As told to Irene Nabusoba