Evelyn Lirri
10 November 2007
Kampala — UGANDA's high population growth rate threatens to undermine efforts to fight the HIV/Aids epidemic, experts have warned.
At a growth rate of 3.2 per cent, there is a greater risk of women giving birth to HIV/Aids positive babies through mother-to-child transmission (MTCT). According to the Ministry of Health, at least 110,000 children are living with Aids in Uganda.
Dr Bernard Etukoit of the Aids Support Organisation (Taso) said mother-to-child transmission is the second biggest mode of HIV/Aids transmission in Uganda.
Globally, MTCT is responsible for over 90 per cent of HIV/Aids infections among children under the age of 15.
Dr Etukoit, who is the Taso deputy director of programme management in charge of clinical services, said with Uganda's high birth rate - one of the highest worldwide - chances of women giving birth to HIV/Aids infected children is very high and poses a significant threat to combating the pandemic.
"There is a clear co-relation between high fertility rate and HIV/Aids. If birth rates remain at the present pace, we stand a danger of having more children born with HIV/Aids," he said.
Every year, about one million babies are born to HIV positive mothers and out of these at least 25,000 get infected with the virus. It is possible for an HIV positive mother to transmit the virus to her baby during pregnancy, labour or delivery and through breast feeding without treatment.
It is estimated that about 15-30 per cent of babies born to HIV positive mothers will become infected during pregnancy and delivery and another five to 20 per cent will be infected through breastfeeding.
According to Dr Etukoit, with more women increasingly becoming infected with HIV/Aids at a higher rate than men, the risk of them giving birth to HIV positive children also increases.
Latest statistics from the Uganda HIV/Aids Sero-behavioural Survey indicates that 7.9 per cent of women have HIV/Aids compared to only six per cent men. Although generally the Aids prevalence has dropped in Uganda over the years, health experts say more women-friendly preventive interventions need to be put in place to avert more infections.
One of these, the female condom (femidom) has failed to gain wide appeal. The women say it is not user-friendly. Dr Etukoit said most of the mother-to-child infections occur because some preventive measures including awareness, counseling and testing and access to anti retroviral treatment during pregnancy remain unavailable to many women.
He said preventive programmes related to awareness especially among the high risk group including women, youth and commercial sex workers are currently being put in place.
"We are carrying out literacy programmes among our clients. We have reserved slots for expectant mothers as priority to benefit from ARVs," Dr Etukoit said.
"We shall also have routine testing of women and girls of reproductive age group for early pregnancy so that when a pregnancy is detected early, it is easier to follow up and hence reduce the risk of the women giving birth to an HIV positive child."
Dr Etukoit said Taso has trained over 500 health workers in HIV/Aids testing in homes and they make frequent home visits. The Executive Director of Taso, Dr Robert Ochai, said over the next five years, the organisation will scale up its preventive strategies to reverse the epidemic which, according to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/Aids indicates a rise in infections.
He said the increase is because of the perception by many people of risk to HIV/Aids infection. "Since most infections are trough sex, it means more and more people are having unsafe sex," Dr Ochai said.
He said although in the last 20 years of the epidemic, people's perceptions have changed with more becoming knowledgeable about the epidemic, infection rates remain high.
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