MoH employ Mother Baby Pack to address HIV in pregnant mothers

Preventing the further spread of HIV is government’s great concern; programmes have been carried out in an effort to reduce the escalating numbers of people living with the virus. Recently, the Ministry of Health launched a new innovation called the Mother Baby Pack, aimed at stopping the transmission of the virus from mother to the baby as VIOLET MENGO reports.

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THE YEAR 2010 was to be a landmark in the global response to HIV and AIDS.

This follows the endorsement by the member states of the United Nations (UN) at the 2005 UN Millennium Summit to reach access to HIV universal treatment, prevention and care.

But it came as no surprise at the July 2010 AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria that this goal is far from being met, despite substantial progress in delivering antiretroviral therapy to those in need.

This is a step backwards in terms of commitments made by political leaders to enhance the fight against HIV. But still a lot is being done to fight the epidemic and help reduce the further spread of the virus especially from mothers to their born babies.

The face of HIV is increasingly young and female. If a woman living with HIV becomes pregnant, there is a 35 percent chance that she will transmit the virus to her newborn if no preventive action is taken.

At the end of 2007, there were over 2.5 million children under age 15 living with HIV, most of whom contracted the virus from their mothers during pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding (UNAIDS).

Fortunately, pregnant women who are living with HIV can reduce their chances of passing the virus on to their newborns by 50 percent by taking antiretroviral drugs (UNICEF).

Preventing mother to child transmission of HIV is very critical in saving lives and curbing impact of the epidemic particularly in Sub Saharan Africa where the majority of women living with HIV live and infant mortality remains high.

In Zambia, an innovation called Mother Baby Pack is expected to help reduce the transmission of the virus to the children. The project is being undertaken by the Ministry of Health with its partners complementing on the existing on the existing Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission

The PMTCT programme is a strategy where an HIV pregnant mother is given one type of antiretroviral drug (niverapine) during child birth to reduce the chances of the baby to be born with the virus.

PMTCT in Zambia has been running since1999. From the initial six centres, the programme now runs in more all the districts countrywide.

Zambia has made strides in increasing PMTCT coverage. Government  data  released last December  found that 63 percent of pregnant  women who are living with HIV and AIDS  received  ARV medicines that are highly  successful in blocking  the transmission of HIV from mother to child.

The ministry of health has been happy with the performance of the programme but has in addition introduced the Mother Baby Pack to ensure the safety of both the mother and child.

The aim of the Mother Baby Pack is to increase uptake of ARVs HIV positive pregnant women and reduce the mother to child transmission of HIV.

A Mother Baby Pack is a color coded and pre packaged set of prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV medicines. The pack consist of maternal and baby prophylactic anti retroviral (ARVs) medicines and Cotrimoxazole based on the WHO 2010 guidelines.

The medicines comes in a portable box with clear direction for when a mother should take the drugs and also when and how to give them to her new born child. The diagrams and colours are designed to help a mother understand the changing schedule of PMTCT medicines and dosages that she and her infant require during pregnancy, birth and during the child’s first month of life.

Ministry of Health (MoH) PMTCT specialist Dr Maximilliam Bweupe said the Mother Baby Pack aims to address the gaps that have been observed in the implementation of PMTCT services and in the provision of quality continuum of care for pregnant women, mothers and their infants.

Dr Bweupe said the Mother Baby Packs are meant as a vehicle for delivering more officious PMTCT regimens to mother who are living with HIV and AIDS and their children.

He said: “It is gratifying that the provincial heads and districts medical officers have embraced the concept enthusiastically and we look forward to the goal of virtual elimination of HIV in children.”

According to Dr Bweupe, women would be able to get combination of ARVS unlike before when they would only get one type of ARVS.

He said the Mother Baby Pack makes logistics easier because one pack to one mother.

The objective of the mother baby pack is to provide a pre-packed set of PMTCT medicines including co-trimoxazole to help HIV positive pregnant women on first contact at ANC for use from 14 weeks or thereafter, that will cover the ANC, intra partum and post natal period for the woman and her exposed baby.

Through the implementation strategy, reach 10 300 HIV positive women in eight selected districts of Zambia within one year period.

Eight districts have been selected for the pilot of the programmes namely Katete, Chipata, Choma, Luanshya, Chibombo, Chongwe, Kabwe and Kawambwa.

The criteria for selection of the districts included district with health centres providing PMTCT services, presence and support of a strong implementing partner and facilities with community structures supporting the delivery of health services. Districts that have rural and semi-urban facilities with varied geographical accessibility, district that has a high HIV burden and a district with a strong management team.

UNICEF Zambia representative Dr Iyolumun Uhaa said it is forecast that the packs would have a great impact in rural areas where it is more difficult for women to access clinics and hospitals.

MoH spokesperson Kamoto Mbewe encouraged and thanked all partners that have embraced the concept of the Mother Baby Pack and are committed to making it a success.

The Mother Baby Pack is being supported by a broad partnership including Family Health International, the centre for Infectious diseases, Research in Zambia and the Catholic Relief Services.

Elizabeth Glaser country Director in Zambia for Paediatrics AIDS Foundation, Dr Suzan Strasser said the foundation was supporting the Mother Baby Pack initiative because it shows great potential in eliminating HIV infection in children by reducing missed opportunities for care and promoting infant feeding through the use of ARVs during the breastfeeding.

“The Mother Baby Packs provide mothers who are living with HIV with the drugs they need before, during and after giving birth. An important component of the pack is the addition of medicines for the breast fed baby. An HIV positive mother will now be able to breastfeed their newborns more safely with reduced risks of transferring the virus. This will help build an HIV free generation in Zambia, “Dr Strasser.