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Zimbabwe: Zim to Introduce New HIV Prevention Regimen
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 Published by the government of Zimbabwe |
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The Herald (Harare)
4 February 2008
Posted to the web 4 February 2008
Harare
GOVERNMENT is planning to switch from single dose nevirapine to a more effective regimen for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission, a senior official in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare has said.
In an interview last Friday, head of Aids and TB Unit Dr Owen Mugurungi said the only drawback in introducing the effective regimen was financial constrains.
"It has been proven that efficacious regimen is more effective because it involves a combination of drugs which is twice more effective compared to a single dose regimen," he said.
Zimbabwe is one of many African countries that have been using nevirapine pills for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission.
According to the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, nevirapine is 50 percent effective for mother-to-child HIV prevention while the new regimen is said to be
twice more effective than the single dose regimen.
The study, termed "tail" regimen, which was carried out in Zambia, revealed that a combination of nevirapine and AZT (also called zidovudine) is more effective in preventing transmission of the virus to children by their mothers.
The addition of AZT was inspired by the urgent need for an efficacious regimen to address the resistance in mothers on nevirapine once they are put onto triple therapy.
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Instead of one nevirapine pill, expecting mothers would be given two pills - nevirapine and AZT - on the onset of and during labour. The World Health Organisation is backing the new combination.
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