Family support crucial for PMTCT success
Family support crucial for PMTCT success
Munyaradzi Doma/Zimnow
A Chitungwiza mother of two, who has been living with HIV for the past 13 years, says support from family contributes to the success of the Prevention of Mother-to-Child-Transmission programme.
Moud Chinembiri says in most cases, mothers who test positive for HIV are scared and confused hence they need to have the necessary support.
Chinembiri says said though she is HIV positive, she is happy that her two children now aged 12 and 3, are both negative, owing to the success of the PMTCT programme.
She narrated her PMTCT journey at a recent media science café on Paediatric HIV and ART in Zimbabwe that was organised by the Health Communicators Forum and the Humanitarian Information Facilitation Centre.
Chinembiri is a teacher by profession but had to drop out due to ill health. She is also a member of the PMTCT Validation Committee for Mashonaland Central, a volunteer for local, regional and international organisations and is also a board member of the Pan-African Women Living with HIV, among other portfolios.
"My first PMTCT experience was confusing. I was in fear and I was in denial, such that I don’t even know what I was giving my child back then.
“I remember I would call on to my mother to say can you now give the baby medication and then she would also encourage me to take my own medication,” narrated Chinembiri.
She revealed that she suffered a lot of self-stigma which could have derailed the efforts of the PMTCT programme as she blamed herself for getting infected by the virus.
“I had a lot of self-stigma, for more than six years I was depressed because I was in denial. When I went to the antenatal clinic, I was very scared yet I had to take care of my child but I didn’t know what I was going to do.
“But I’m so happy that my parents were there for me because I don’t even remember how I got through that journey with my first child but that journey was traumatic for me, it was something else.
“I remember my mother would just encourage me to say can you just take the pills so that your baby will be safe but it was very hard,” she narrated.
She added that various other programmes that have been included as part of the PMTCT (programme) have really helped because they now mother-to-mother mentoring and couple-to-couple training.
“It’s something that we now tell others to make sure that they involve the family, even the husbands, let’s make sure that the husband knows.
“When they come to the antenatal clinic, we say please come with your husbands, why, because those are the things that we want you to know. Those are the things that we want you to learn as a couple.
“We are trying by all means to have what we call couple-to-couple training so that they are well aware.
“If couples help each other to take care of the child, it really helps than to just be alone, it will be difficult so the family plays an important role. So, let’s take a holistic approach,” she added.
Speaking at the same science café, Technical Advisor at the Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric Aids Foundation, Dr Hilda Bara said the success of the PMTCT was also largely tied to adults who play the role of caregivers.
She also revealed that HIV disproportionately impacts infants and young children hence they needed the necessary support.
“Infants and young children depend on adults, as they (infants and young children) cannot make decisions themselves and depend on the health seeking behaviour of the adults who are playing the caregiver roles in their lives,” said Dr Bara.
She added that with no intervention, up to 52 percent infants die before the age of two years and up to 75 percent die by the age of five.
“This shows that there is a lot of work to do in terms of making sure that undiagnosed HIV in children is figured and those that are tested positive are initiated for treatment early.
“We have an estimate of 82 000 children that are living with undiagnosed HIV in Zimbabwe who should be initiated for treatment,” said Dr Bara.
Dr Bara further revealed that “by expanding, optimising and building skills around PMTCT over this five-year project, mother-to-child HIV transmission reduced from 30 percent to below 6 percent.”
She added that at 8 percent, mother to child transmission is still high hence more needs to be done.
Dr Bara further revealed that to ensure an HIV-free generation, there is need for the triple elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission.
According to 2022 estimates, 1.3 million people are living with HIV in Zimbabwe.