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Increase in mother-to-child AIDS centres

    JOHANNESBURG

    The number of centres in Zimbabwe administering nevirapine, a drug that prevents transmission of HIV from mothers to babies, has increased from 137 to 181.

    The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare said 43 out of 58 district hospitals, including satellite clinics, were now registered as programme sites.

    Local newspaper, The Herald, quoted Dr Agnes Mahomva, the ministry's national coordinator for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, as saying: "The ministry will continue to expand the programme to the rest of the health centres in the country, to ensure that everyone is equipped with information on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV."

    She said the ministry had also issued an appeal for donor support to purchase more of the antiretroviral drug.

    Research shows that if administered during the first 14 to 16 weeks after birth, nevirapine reduces a baby's chances of contracting HIV from its mother by up to 50 percent.

    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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