When UNICEF Tasked Media On Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/Aids

Terkula Igidi

Jalingo — HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean is said to have a female face. It is no wonder then that Nigeria is said to contribute about 30 per cent of the Mother-To-Child Transmission (MTCT) of HIV/AIDS burden to the world, having the highest number of pregnant women, about 200, 000 living with the epidemic and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) believes reducing the burden lies squarely on the shoulders of the media.

"The media can clarify and disapprove misconceptions about HIV/AIDs and advocate policy actions to accelerate the prevention and elimination of MTCT and pediatric AIDS," Samuel Kaalu, UNICEF Communications Officer, D-Field Office, Bauchi, told journalists recently in Yola.

"Less than 50, 000 pregnant women are receiving anti-retroviral drugs to reduce the risk of MTCT," Dr Asusuji O. Osuji, UNICEF Assistant Representative in the D-Field Office, Bauchi, told journalists who met in Yola, Adamawa State for a one day sensitization workshop on how to eliminate MTCT.

He added that "prevalence in women reflects that in infants because of vertical transmission through pregnancy, labour, delivery and breastfeeding."

He indicated that prevalence rate for girls and women is higher than boys and men at all times except at age 15-19 when boys tend to be more adventurous and are exposed to higher risk of being infected with the virus.

He however said a HIV free survival for infants is possible with intervention. "Available technologies can reduce MTCT rate to less than five per cent among breastfeeding populations and to less than two per cent among non breastfeeding populations," Dr Osuji said.

Pediatric HIV infection is said to be a disappearing epidemic in higher income countries but in Nigeria, the gap between ante-natal care and HIV testing and counseling in pregnant women is still said to be wide, with Dr Osuji saying without dramatic progress in Nigeria, global goals are unlikely to be met.

According to Dr. Osuji, about 76 per cent opportunity has been lost in combating pediatric HIV, explaining that the "epidemic is relatively invisible" and may be taken for granted as it cannot be seen physically.

He also decried weak service delivery system and advocated the need to ginger them up, adding that the response to HIV/AIDS being "central and disease-specialist driven hampers non-medical approach and urged the media to intervene so that the bottlenecks can be removed in the fight against pediatric HIV.

He tasked the media to harp on behavioral change--abstinence and safe sex--and the deployment of biomedical strategies like safe blood products, safe needles, prevention of vertical transmission and male circumcision.

"Structural approaches also need to be taken. Social, economic, political, environmental and legal factors directly affecting HIV risks and vulnerability must be addressed," he said, adding that prevention of new infections and avoidance of unintended pregnancies, especially for women living with HIV/AIDS, was a sure way of eliminating MTCT.

Mr Kaalu, on his part, lamented that Nigeria has high income, strong cultural institutions and a large pool of private sector actors but are poorly engaged, resulting in low investment for children, limited social protection for the needy, limited human and institutional capacity for development and high regional disparities.

He reiterated that the goal of the workshop was to remind the media that they have to set agenda for the elimination of MTCT and pediatric HIV, and improve maternal and infant mortality rate and ensure the survival of children in the context of improved access to healthcare.

"Our target is to reduce Mother to Child Transmission (MTCT) to less than five per cent by 2015 and pediatric HIV by 90 per cent by 2015," saying UNICEF considers the media as partners and stakeholders because it is mostly the first source of information to the public. It has wide outreach and it can set agenda, especially on promoting universal access to treatment.

Earlier, the wife of the Adamawa State Governor, Hajiya Halima Nyako, who is also the chairperson, State Action Committee on AIDS (SACA), had said the media is a power group that can contribute immensely to the fight against HIV/AIDS.

She said HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Adamawa State from 2008 to 2010 dropped from 6.8 per cent to 3.8 per cent because of awareness created by the media.

"The media must impact knowledge through advocacy, especially that abstinence and premarital testing are better approaches to reducing MTCT. I believe the media will leave here better equipped to fight the disease," she said.

The one day workshop which drew participants from notable media houses in the 10 DFO states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Nasarawa, Kano, Plateau, Yobe, Jigawa and Taraba, had commitments of supporting efforts of governments and donor agencies in closing the gaps in the fight to eliminate MTCT.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201110241689.html