Ministry of Health's report reveals that Kenya fell short of its target of lowering mother-to-child HIV transmission by less than 5% by 2020.
According to data issued by the National Syndemic Diseases Control Council (NSDCC), the country's current mother-to-child HIV transfer rate is 8.6%. Kenya's new objective is to eliminate mother-to-child HIV transmission to zero percent by 2027.
In its efforts to eliminate mother-to-child transmission, the MoH is focusing on groups of HIV-positive women.
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According to Rachuonyo Sub County HIV/AIDS coordinator Leonard Okumu, the Ministry of Health is targeting women's support groups to assist them in HIV viral load reduction among not just pregnant others but nursing mothers, too.
“The ARV drugs help in achieving viral suppression and therefore the mother who is viral suppressed cannot transmit HIV to the unborn baby,” Okumu said.
The Upendo women's support group, which is made up of HIV-positive women in Homabay County, is one of the groups actively working with the ministry to minimize incidences of HIV transmission from mother to child.
The organization, which was founded in 2018 with the primary purpose of minimizing mother-to-child HIV transmission, already has over 20 members.
Upendo support group organizing secretary Lucy Auma Atela stated that they had been able to lower the number of mothers giving birth to HIV-positive infants in Homabay County.
“When we started this group there were a number of HIV positive women who were giving birth to HIV positive children. Like in our facility around here, you could find out of the ten new born, eight were HIV positive,” she says.
Auma stated that none of the 12 members of the support group who have given birth since its start had transferred HIV to their newborns.
She stated that they have been doing awareness workshops with women of reproductive age living with HIV.
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