10 June 2010
Video: preventing HIV transmission between mothers and children
Deep in rural South Africa, 200 miles from Durban and the impressive World Cup 'Moses Mabhida' stadium, 24-year-old Nobuhle Mkhize is walking her two kids to the local health clinic.
It’s a trip she knows well – while pregnant with her first son, Nobuhle was diagnosed HIV positive. She was just 18 years old. “It was so difficult when I found out. I was crying all the time and I thought my baby and I would die,” she says.
South Africa has the highest number of HIV and AIDS cases in the world, with around 1,000 South Africans dying from the disease every day. Stigma and discrimination against people with HIV remains unacceptably high and women suffer disproportionately from the disease. Nobuhle’s nightmare is one faced by nearly one in three pregnant women in the country.
A stage for change
The 2010 FIFA World Cup represents a moment when the eyes of the world will be on South Africa. The tournament is shining a spotlight on the HIV epidemic, highlighting South Africa’s revitalised response to the disease.
The foundations for change have already been laid. Over the past year, the South African government has ramped up efforts to bolster the national health system, promising quality healthcare for all.
And this vital work makes a difference, as Nobuhle can testify. On discovering she was HIV positive, Nobuhle was able to walk the few miles to her nearest health clinic. Timely testing, counselling and treatment provided by the clinic saved her unborn child from HIV.
“The counsellor was very supportive. He encouraged me to attend a support group for HIV positive women and to seek correct treatment,” she explains.
“Without this, the baby would have come out being positive because I wouldn’t have known anything about what I needed to do to keep me and my baby healthy.”
Coming up with a plan
This quality of counselling and treatment has not always been available to pregnant women living with HIV in South Africa. Often treatment was started too late in the process or pregnant women failed to understand its importance.
UKaid from the Department for International Development, along with other partners, worked with the South African government to find out why HIV positive, pregnant women were needlessly dying or giving birth to HIV positive babies. This resulted in the Accelerated Plan for Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission, also known as the A-Plan.
Introduced in 2009, the A-plan helps to get more pregnant women onto treatment. It promotes HIV prevention and aims to break down the social barriers that stop women visiting health clinics. It also ensures that the clinics are properly equipped and are able to provide the support the pregnant women and new mothers need, for example information on how to feed their HIV negative babies safely.
Read how another HIV positive mother gave birth to an HIV negative child
Originally the A-Plan was piloted in six districts, including Zululand in KwaZulu-Natal province where Nobuhle lives. However the plan's success has meant that it now forms part of the South African government's countrywide response to HIV.
Lasting legacy
As 32 football teams from across the globe meet to decide their fate in the 2010 World Cup, it’s important that the players who lift the trophy at the end of the tournament aren’t the only winners.
Andrew Mitchell, UK International Development Secretary, believes that the World Cup offers a vital opportunity to bring the HIV epidemic to the world’s attention.
“We need to make sure that, after the last football fan boards the plane home, there is a legacy of support left behind for the people of South Africa, and their battle against the disease," he says.
“That’s why the UK Government is proud to be South Africa’s partner in its attempt to tackle HIV and AIDS and turn the tide on the epidemic that has affected so many families.”
Today Nobuhle has two healthy, HIV negative boys and she continues to respond well to treatment. While there is still a lot more to be done to stop the spread of HIV, Nobuhle’s story offers hope that there is a way out of this crisis.
"When I learnt that my children were negative, even although I was positive, I was very happy," she says. "I advise women I know to get help from the clinics and the counsellors – because it is possible to have a healthy life with HIV."
Facts and stats
- There are 5.7 million people living with HIV in South Africa. Of that, three million are women over the age of 15 years and 280,000 are children.
- On average, nearly one in three pregnant women are HIV positive.
- There are an estimated 1.4 million AIDS orphans.
- A 21% increase in maternal deaths between 2005 and 2007 is attributed to HIV.
- During the six month pilot phase of the A-Plan, which took place in six districts in South Africa, HIV positive women initiating Highly Active Retroviral Treatment (HAART) increased from 22% to 55%. Antenatal booking for pregnant women before 20 weeks improved from 20% to 35%.
- The South African government launched a mass mobilisation campaign to counsel and test 15 million South Africans by June 2010. As a result, it is anticipated that an additional 2.3 million people will start HIV treatment by 2012.