Uganda to give Free AIDS treatment to expectant mothers

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Uganda to give AIDS treatment to expectant mothers

By Busharizi

KAMPALA, May 24 (Reuters) - Uganda plans to offer free AIDS

treatment for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV infection

throughout the country by the end of next year, health officials

said on Thursday.

A limited programme that started in April 2000 provided 700 mothers

in the Ugandan capital with free treatment and is expected

to be treating double that number 12 months from now.

By the end of 2002, the programme is expected to be operating

nationwide, offering counselling and testing on a voluntary

basis to all mothers, leading to treatment for those affected,

the officials said.

" The expansion will require a lot of logistics- testing,

counselling and infrastructure, " the director of the United

Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) health and nutrition programme

in Uganda, Dr Iyorlumun Uhaa, told Reuters.

" But by the end of next year we should be able to provide the

service all over the country. "

Health ministry figures show that every year up to 70,000 babies

are born infected with HIV. Not all pregnant women are

expected to volunteer for HIV tests.

" Currently we are already working out of five sites which will

quickly expand to 11 sites over the next year, " Guay, a

researcher from the U.S. s Hopkins University, told Reuters.

Guay and several Ugandan scientists announced last July after months

of research that work on the drug Nevirapine (NVP) had

shown it could reduce the risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission

by up to 50 percent. The treatment consists of a single NVP tablet

administered as soon as the mother goes into labour and a single syrup

dose to the newborn within 72 hours of delivery.

The drug works by inhibiting an enzyme in the AIDS-causing virus that

promotes its replication. The full treatment costs in all just

under $4 compared with up to $800 for similar treatments with the

drug AZT.

" Currently we are administering AZT to mothers in all but one of our sites, "

Uhaa said. " But the plan is to move towards the cheaper and easier-to-

administer NVP at all our sites. " As a result of government efforts to

combat the deadly disease, officials say HIV infection rates among pregnant

women are just over 20 percent today from 33 percent in 1991.

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni pushed in the late 1980s for an open

policy on AIDS that provided information on the disease and promoted

preventative measures. About 1.5 million of the East African country's 22

million people are living with the AIDS virus. About 800,000 people have

died from AIDS since it was first discovered in Uganda in 1982.

Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited.

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