“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”
Pre-vent is a non-profit, publicly supported charitable organization. We believe that doing well comes from doing right.
The United Nations estimates that of the 2.5 million children in the world with HIV, nearly 90 percent live in sub-Saharan Africa. The overwhelming majority of youth living with HIV acquired the infection from their mother. Raising these children, most of whom will die young after long periods of sickness, is not easy; especially for a mother who is pregnant and has compromised immunity and hence is prone to diseases like Tuberculosis as well.
An estimated 430,000 children were newly infected with HIV in 2008, over 90% of them through mother-to-child
transmission (MTCT). Without treatment, about half of these
infected children will die before their second birthday.
The prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) is a highly effective intervention and has huge potential to improve both maternal
and child health. In 2001, the United Nations General Assembly
set a target for 80% of pregnant women and their children to
have access to essential prevention, treatment and care by 2010
to reduce the proportion of infants infected by HIV by 50%. That goal has not been achieved.
In order to achieve the 2015 Millennium Development Goals, it is critical to help scale-up effective PMTCT services especially in sub-Saharan African countries to reduce overall maternal and child mortality.
With specific interventions in non-breastfeeding populations, the risk of MTCT can
be reduced to less than 2 to 5% under optimal conditions. Unfortunately, optimal
conditions of early diagnosis and treatment and exclusive breastfeeding are only
available to women 20% of the time in sub-Saharan countries.
A great deal of emphasis
has been placed on Anti-retroviral based interventions and much less attention has
been focused on preventing unintended pregnancy in HIV-positive women. Contraception
is the most effective and least expensive method of HIV prevention.
Most HIV positive women in a study in Kenya indicated that they did not plan to have additional children, but only half of these women were offered family planning options.
Five million HIV positive women in Africa wish to have access to contraceptives,
but are unable to obtain them. Pre-vent intends to make a strong impact in this area
of prevention.
Access to healthcare for women and young girls produces the best overall results in the health of nations. The economic effect of such interventions is enormous.
Research and program experience over the past ten years has demonstrated newer and more cost effective ways to prevent new pediatric infections, particularly in high-burden, low-resource settings. These include integration of family planning and reproductive health services into PMTCT services rather than offering them in parallel with HIV diagnosis and treatment.
Pre-vent at work in Ethiopia promoting integration of family planning with PMTCT services.
USAID: Adding family planning to PMTCT sites increases the benefits of PMTCT 2008. READ MORE