Health
THE New HIV Vaccine and Microbicides Advocacy Society (NHVMAS) says the low uptake of the Prevention from Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services is increasing new HIV infections among newborns.
Mr Florita Durueke, Executive Director, NHVMAS, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Awka.
Durueke said there was a need for significant efforts to stop new HIV infections among children.
According to the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS 2016), MTCT accounts for 90 percent of HIV infections in children.
“As a result, Nigeria has the highest number of new HIV infections among children.”
The report shows that 32 per cent of pregnant women living with HIV received antiretroviral treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
It further shows that only 34.7 per cent were tested for HIV as part of antenatal care.
Durueke said that most children who had HIV got it from their mothers when they were pregnant, during the birth process or from breastfeeding.
She said that women, who tested positive but stuck to treatment, greatly lower the chance of passing the virus to their babies.
She said: “It is the best way to prevent HIV in children.
“PMTCT services are available in government healthcare facilities in the country but people do not access them.
“This is because most HIV positive pregnant women are not aware of the PMTCT services and some visit traditional birth attendants or mission homes for antenatal and delivery.
“As part of the government’s HIV response, most primary healthcare centres (PHCs), in the 774 local government areas, secondary and tertiary hospitals in the country offer PMTCT services.
“The PHCs, who do not have the drug given to babies of HIV positive mother’s at birth do not take delivery of such babies they refer to other health facilities with PMTCT services,” she said.
Durueke said that private hospitals, which offer about 75 per cent of healthcare, were not offering PMTCT services or the services were expensive.
“It is a fact that private hospitals are profit-oriented but we can promote public-private partnership, where the services can be offered at a subsidised rate.
“There is also the need to build the capacity of traditional birth attendants and mission home attendants on how to handle HIV positive pregnant women.
“And they need to know when to refer to conventional hospitals for better health management of such persons,” she said.
PMTCT programme started in Nigeria in 2001 to contribute to the reduction of incidence of HIV/AIDS transmission. (NAN)
– Mar. 22, 2021 @ 14:28
Tags: Group says low uptake of preventive services increasing HIV infection among newborns
