Source:East African Business Week (Kampala)
Kampala — With Mother to Child transmission of HIV/AIDS accounting for 11% of the estimated 145,000 new infections occurring each year, Uganda's Ministry of Health is adopting a new intervention strategy.
Uganda's Minister of Health, Dr. Christine Ondoa said that the new strategy aims at eliminating transmission of HIV/AIDS from Mother to Child because women and children still bear the brunt of HIV infection.
According to the 2011 Uganda AIDS Indicator Survey (UAIS), 8.3% of women of child bearing age were infected and that the number of children living with HIV was 188,000 out of the estimated 1.3 million people living with HIV.
The launch of the Option B+ for elimination of Mother to Child Transmission (eMTCT) of HIV according to the Minister is aimed at reducing the risk to 5% nationally and 90% by 2015.
She said that in 2012 alone, 1.6 million pregnancies occurred of which 5.5% (88,000) had babies who were at risk of acquiring HIV."With an average transmission rate of 30%, it is estimated that about 26,400 babies would get infected in 2012 alone through MTCT without intervention.