Ephraim Keoreng
20 August 2008
HIV/AIDS is the foremost cause of maternal, newborn and child death in southern Africa whilst in Botswana, one in four people in the 15 to 49 years age bracket is HIV/AIDS infected, the 2008 State of The World's Children Report says.
According to the report, the risk to children starts well before birth, owing to the fact that one third of pregnant women aged between 15 and 24 are HIV positive.
Maternal HIV positive status, it says, leads to an increased rate of still births and deaths in the neonatal period and infancy, even if HIV is not transmitted to the child.
"Women who contract HIV during pregnancy or while breastfeeding have a high risk of passing the infection to their newborn. Moreover, mothers are increasingly at risk of death, leaving behind babies with diminished chances of survival. AIDS is a significant cause of disability and death in babies and children beyond one month," it reads.
The report praises government's positive response by providing free health services for the prevention of mother-to-child-transmission (PMTCT), especially aimed at benefiting women and children to help in fighting HIV/AIDS.
"These services include obstetric practices, counselling, HIV testing, prophylaxis or treatment for HIV infection and testing for babies for HIV infection at six weeks of age. Antiretroviral therapy is also provided to qualifying mothers and their families. Rigorous monitoring and evaluation is implemented and closely managed," the report says.
It takes cognisance of the milestones Botswana made, among them the unified co-ordination mechanism around a single national scale-up plan. PMTCT was fully integrated with maternal and child health services, and government has made ongoing adjustments to increase quality and service uptake.
"Community participation and male involvement were also crucial elements to support women who chose not to breastfeed and to facilitate follow up padiatric care and support,' the report says.
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