Simon Peter Esaku
5 November 2007
Kampala — EVERY time you say bye and continue to shoot a photo of him waving back, he says: "Bye bisuba," (meaning bye liar). Reagan Mujuni is only coming to three years yet he knows the difference between a liar and an honest person. Mujuni, who makes friends quickly, is not only known for his high intellect. He is so humorous he could pass for an actor.
But, apart from those credentials, many people in Kabasindagizi village in Karugutu sub-county, Bundibugyo district in western Uganda know this character for something else. Reagan was born of a mother who has HIV but he does not have the virus.
His mother, Alice Banura, 30, says it was no accident. She enrolled for a programme known as Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) in March 2004. "I first heard about the PMTCT programme on the Voice of Tooro around January 2004. The presenter said even if a woman was HIV positive, she could give birth to an HIV negative baby," says Banura, a single mother.
"When I discovered I was HIV positive and pregnant, I joined the PMTCT programme to give my baby a healthy life," she says. She had already lost a son - Megan, who died at eight months in July 1998. She was not sure Reagan's brother Ronald, 6, was okay. She separated from their father, John, in July 2004 after four years in a relationship.
"I decided to go for an HIV test at Karugutu Health Centre IV on March 15, 2004 because I was falling sick all the time. I got tuberculosis and herpes zoster," Banura recalls. She was encouraged by a World Vision Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) programme in Karugutu. The results were positive.
"I was not surprised," says Banura. Her first husband, the father of Megan died in 1998. His first wife had already died. John had also lost a lover before Alice met him.
At the health centre, Banura was referred to the World Vision's Bundibugyo Area Development Programme (ADP) at Karugutu. There, they connected her to the PMTCT Programme at Buhinga Hospital in Fort Portal, 27km from Karugutu. The PMTCT Programme at the government hospital was supported by GTZ (German Technical Cooperation).
"I went to Buhinga Hospital in May 2004 and another test confirmed I was HIV positive. They also scanned the three months old foetus," Banura recalls, adding, "Dr Abdullah counselled me and told me that I could give birth to an HIV-free baby."
Dr Abdullah told Banura to go back when the pregnancy was seven months for a CD4 count and possibly to get Nevirapine, an anti-retroviral drug (ARV) that can prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Banura went back to the hospital in September.
Her CD4 count was 138. They did not give her Nevirapine. "We give nevirapine when the mother's CD4 count is above 350. We give the mother one tablet to take home when the pregnancy is seven months. When labour pains begin, she takes it," explains Juliana Musiimenta, a clinical officer who was Banura's counsellor.
Dr Ali Moses put Banura on ARVs and explained to her the commandments of using the drugs:
"We also told her to breastfeed her baby for three months only," says Musimeenta. Babies are infected with HIV from the mothers either in the womb, during delivery or during breastfeeding.
On November 18, 2004, Banura gave birth to Reagan in Muhangi Hospital assisted by Dr. Ali. The baby was given one oral dose of nevirapine syrup. If given within 72 hours, the syrup can prevent the baby from getting HIV from the mother. Banura gave Reagan a second name "Mujuni" which in Rutooro, means "Saviour."
Reagan was tested for HIV in March 2005. His mother says they did not give her the results. "But they tested him again on January 9, 2007 and he was found to be HIV negative," says the happy mother.
"We can ascertain a baby is HIV negative after 18 months because when a baby is born, it has its mother's antibodies," Musimeenta explains.
World Vision plays a supportive role in Karugutu. "The organisation mobilises people for VCT and sensitises communities on PMTCT," says Fred Karamagi of Bundibugyo ADP. Charles Ngwabusa, a medical worker in Karugutu Health Centre says World Vision gives money for fuel to collect the ARVs from Bundibugyo town, provides septrin tablets and pays medical bills for patients referred to Virika Hospital in Fort Portal.
Out of 604 mothers who attended antenatal clinics in Karugutu Health Centre between July 2006 and July 2007, 26 tested HIV positive. According to the Uganda Annual Report 2006 published by UNICEF, out of 12,691 pregnant women who accessed PMTCT services in 2006, 5,182 tested for HIV and 205 turned out to be HIV positive.
Reagan is good news in a world desperate for an AIDS cure. Karamagi says he knows at least five children like Reagan in Karugutu. Banura is now a serious advocate of PMTCT.
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