|
|
|
|
HIV and AIDS Pregnancy and motherhood are among the most important roles fulfilled by women throughout the world. It is unfortunate, however, that pregnancy and childbirth may be the only events that bring women in developing countries into sustained contact with the health care system. While it is important to note that in almost all parts of the world the majority of pregnant women are HIV-negative, in some places more than one pregnant woman in three is HIV-positive. In the absence of targeted interventions, as many as 40 percent of HIV-infected mothers will transmit the virus to their newborns. Many questions about preventing HIV in pregnant women and newborns remain unanswered, but research is ongoing. The Population Council, through the Horizons program, is conducting studies in Kenya and Zambia that seek to assess the feasibility, acceptability, effect, and cost of a package of services designed to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. In the Kenya study, Horizons supported a pilot project by the government of Kenya to test comprehensive packages of mother-to-child transmission prevention services. Analysis of this study is ongoing. In the meantime, the training curriculum and the evaluation procedures developed at three sites are being used at 20 other sites in Kenya. See Also |
|
|||||||||
