5th October, 2015
At least 84,035 pregnant women in 12 local government areas of Kaduna state have benefited from HIV counselling and testing.
The Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT)’s Focal Person in the state, Malam Lawal Abubakar, said the exercise was part of the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) week.
He gave the figure while presenting a progress report to UNICEF on Monday in Kaduna.
“We did this counselling and testing in 12 high burden selected local government areas of Kaduna state.
“The purpose is to reach more pregnant women, using that strategy so that we can identify those that are HIV-positive and link them with facilities.
“Our aim is to test 87,000 pregnant women during the MNCH week in the 12 Local Government Areas and refer any pregnant woman that tested HIV positive to health facilities.
“So that she can get access to antiretroviral drugs for the prevention of mother to child infection of HIV/AIDS.
“At the end of it, we were able to reach 84,000 pregnant women, representing 97 per cent of the target we set for ourselves.
“This was a great achievement which we never recorded before.
“Secondly, we were able to identify 290 HIV positive pregnant women and linked 77 per cent of them to facilities for their antiretroviral drugs. The remaining women were found to be already on drugs,’’ Abubakar said.
He said that the figure represented 97 per cent achievement, out of 87,067 pregnant women being targeted.
He added that out of the 84,035 women counselled and tested, 290 tested positive to HIV, out of which 224 were referred to PMTCT facilities and the remaining 66 were found to be already on drugs.
He explained that the MNCH week, which held in 12 local government areas of the state between Aug. 31 and Sept. 4, was carried out by 440 testers in 270 health facilities.
He listed the 12 high burdened local government areas to include Chikun, Igabi, Jaba, Jama’a, Kachia, Kaduna North, Kagarko, Kauru, Lere, Sanga and Zangon Kataf.
He said that the programme was successfully carried out with funding and technical support from the United Nation International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
“The MNCH week is a strategy of delivering free package of high impact and cost effective health interventions that have been proven to reduce mortality rates and improve the health of pregnant women and young children.
“It is a five-day bi-annual event of administering Vitamin A supplements, routine immunisation vaccines and deworming tablets to children less than five years of age and provides antenatal care to pregnant women,’’ he added.
Abubakar advised that the round two of the MNCH week, which comes up Nov/Dec. 2015, should be expanded from 12 to 18 local government areas.
Earlier, UNICEF’s Media and External Relation Officer, Kaduna Field Office, Malam Rabiu Musa, said UNICEF would strengthen the existing partnership with the media in the state to create the needed awareness.
He said that the partnership would go a long way towards supporting government’s effort at reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the state, particularly through preventing mother-to-child infection.