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There was a time when HIV infected babies died. But now all babies can remain AIDS free, even though their mothers have the virus.
This year, Thailand eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and other countries, like Haiti, are close.
“Prevention of mother-to-child transmission is one of the greatest success stories in HIV research, but there are still 150,000 children in low- and middle-income countries who become infected with HIV every year.”
The challenge is to get HIV-infected women on treatment and to keep them on it for life. But clinics may be too hard to get to, or too far away. Getting the medicine might be a problem and staying on it can be difficult, too.
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have been working on ways to make it easier for women to stay healthy.
“One of the research studies that we funded look at convening for testing and treatment at a church instead of a clinic.”
They find that other methods work as well. Getting men in treatment helps women stay on their medication too. So does getting tested treatment at home and making HIV care part of regular healthcare. The official name for this approach is called implementation science. It’s basically finding out what works to make treatment successful.
There were three keys to Thailand success. Dr. Tom Frieden explained it in a Skype interview.
“The first was to make sure that they had the right technical package: that they were giving the right medications in the right way. The second was to ensure that they had the right operational systems integrating it into maternal care so it wasn’t over-sided[one-sided] but... [was] actually part of the routine care. And the third was political support, ongoing support.”
The tools are there to eliminate mother-to-child transmission. The challenge is to make it happen. The goal is to bring the 150000 new HIV infections that mothers passed their children each year down to zero.
Carol Pearson VOA NEWS Washington.
