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HIV-positive mothers slow on PMTCT

    JOHANNESBURG

    Botswana's President Festus Mogae has expressed concern over the failure by some expectant mothers to enrol in the country's programme for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV.

    Mogae told a group of journalists in Bangkok recently that most women were still reluctant to enrol for fear of victimisation by family members or their communities.

    He urged all HIV-positive expectant mothers to consider the lives of their unborn babies as well as their own.

    The local Daily News newspaper quoted Mogae as saying: "One's life is more important than what the third party thinks."

    Launched in two cities in 1999, the PMTCT programme is now national and provides HIV-positive expectant mothers with a six-week course of antiretroviral treatment that reduces the chances of infecting their unborn babies.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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