Men urged to support PMTCT

has partly contributed to the increase in the number of children born with HIV, a senior health official has said.
Briefing journalists on the Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission progra-mme’s progress during a media tour of Matabeleland North province yesterday, Nkayi district hospital matron, Ms Lucy Moyo, said of the 121 children born in February alone, 19 babies tested HIV positive.
“Many mothers who are put on treatment after leaving the hospital fail to adhere to the standard rules of PMTCT such as exclusive breastfeeding because their husbands would not be aware of their status.”
“We have seen that most of the children who were born positive yet their mothers were on the PMTCT programme failed to adhere to treatment because their husbands are not involved.”
Ms Moyo said eventually, women would rather give birth without knowing their status.
“I urge all men to support the PMTCT programmes to fight against the virus to reduce the rate of transmission to children in the province.
“HIV and Aids programmes have always suffered because men do not fully support the programme,” she said.
She said the hospital was now using new World Health Organisation guidelines, which requires them to use more efficacious regimen (MER).
The MER involves a combination of drugs while previously health workers would administer a single dose of Nevirapine. Ms Moyo said in February alone, 721 mothers went through PMTCT.
Currently, Nkayi hospital has initiated about 2000 people on ARVs.
Mrs Siyengiso Mkwananzi, who is on the ART programme, appreciated the involvement of other organisation who are providing food packs to those on ARVs.
“We get food packs once every week, and this has helped us a lot in taking our medication. The reason why we sometimes fail to adhere to treatment is because of inadequate food on the table,” she said.
Mrs Mkwananzi said the treatment regi-mes they are taking are very powerful and need someone to eat first before taking medication.