Nov 25, 1999
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Nov 25, 1999 |
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One HIV baby born weekly
A PILOT project to help prevent mother-to-child transmission of the deadly HIV/AIDS virus is set to begin in January in four parishes which have the highest paediatric cases of the disease. Dr. Peter Figueroa, Chief Medical Officer in the Health Ministry, said yesterday that the Ministry was working to provide anti-retroviral therapy to pregnant women to prevent transmission to their children. He was speaking at the World AIDS Day press conference at the Hilton Kingston Hotel. Mother-child transmission of HIV/AIDS accounts for about 7.8 per cent of all AIDS cases in Jamaica. Statistics from the Health Ministry indicate that one out every 100 pregnant women in Jamaica is infected with HIV and that one HIV-infected child is born every week in the island. From 1982 to September of this year, there have been 311 paediatric AIDS cases in the country and 174 paediatric deaths as a result of the disease. The pilot project, which is set to run for a year, will be carried out in the parishes of St. Mary, St. James, St. Catherine and Kingston and St. Andrew. Free voluntary HIV testing of pregnant women will be carried out and counselling and care will also be provided. Pregnant women who are HIV-positive will be given two tablets of the drug Nevirapine at the onset of labour to reduce the possibility of transmission of the virus to their babies. The new-born child will also be given a single dose of the drug in the first 72 hours after birth. Dr. Yitades Gebre, Director of the National HIV/STD Control Programme, said the drug has the ability to reduce mother-child transmission by about 50 to 60 per cent. He said the cost of the therapy is about $200 per individual, while testing costs about $100. Under the pilot, infant formula will also be provided for the baby for the first four months of life. Breast-feeding by HIV-positive mothers is not encouraged since the disease may be transmitted in this way, Dr. Gebre added. Although the pilot is set to last 12 months, there will be an 18-month follow-up programme for the children. Dr. Figueroa also said the Ministry hoped eventually to extend the programme of testing and anti-retroviral therapy for HIV-positive mothers-to-be to pregnant women across the island. He said the Ministry did not have the resources to provide anti-retroviral therapy to all persons suffering from the disease. At present the public health system can only treat AIDS patients for associated infections which arise because of the disease. "We are working with the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS to see if we can offer the anti-retroviral therapy but it is very costly and so far we are unable to do this. This is the dilemma facing us and other developing countries and which we honestly do not have an answer for," Dr. Figueroa said. |
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