What is the solution

Mombasa, Kenya ---More than 95% of HIV-infected infants in Africa acquire HIV from their mothers during pregnancy, at the time of delivery, or after birth through breast-feeding. Without any intervention, between 30 and 40% of breast-feeding HIV-positive women transmit HIV to their newborns.

But despite a consistently growing political and financial goodwill, studies have showed that only one in 10 infected African mothers have access to AIDS treatment drugs.

And as these support programmes continue to falter across the troubled continent, all is not bleak. In the coastal city of Mombasa a group of women , all living with the deadly AIDS disease are bringing education and counselling to HIV infected pregnant women.

The women  who have come together under the umbrella of SOLWODI [Solidarity of Women in Distress] said the AIDS outreach programmes had seen more pregnant women stop breast feeding which contributed to less children being born with HIV AIDS disease.

Head of SOLWODI projects in Mombasa, Elizabeth Akinyi said “ We have witnessed an impressive reduction in the number of HIV/AIDS transmission from mother to child.”

In their 2006 report, UNAIDS estimated that this year alone some $22 billion will be required to make progress towards the much touted Millennium Development Goal [MDG]. Some of this money will be used in the treatment and care of children with the killer AIDS disease.

Non-governmental organisations like SOLWODI have been in the fore front in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The organisation says that far more cases of paediatric AIDS could be prevented with a  cheaper more effective means such as peer education and encouraging the use of birth control.

However, a local church leader said unless the message in the education programmes called on abstinence, more children will still stand a risk of infection from their mothers.

Mary Auma of the African Israel Church, Mombasa said “Basically telling people on how not to catch AIDS is not enough, people should be told that only abstinence works.”

The group which also offers AIDS drugs, food and home visits to its members found that programmes providing antiretroviral medicine to pregnant women had resulted in over 10,000 cases of paediatric HIV had been prevented between 2005 - 2006.

SOLWODI also suggested that improving access to birth controls in a Country where usage rates are among the lowest in Africa could prevent tens of thousands of more infections even more successfully.

Yet, as research grows on the importance of contraception in controlling HIV among new born babies, US and other international funding for this programme has declined. Last year, President Bush presented a budget of less than a third of what was spent in 1995.

According to statistics compiled by Washington-based Population Action International, which lobbies for better family planning programmes world-wide, the shift in monetary funding has resulted in a poor access to contraception drugs in rural areas.

Already a partnership between AIDS Healthcare Foundation, [AHIF] a global campaigner and Kenya Medical Research Institute [KEMRI] has seen the introduction of free medical care for AIDS sufferers in Mombasa.

Managing Director Bernard Okongo said, “during September, we began treating our first patients and started delivering lifesaving anti-retroviral treatment at this new HIV/AIDS treatment centre in Mtongwe.”

AHIF said that increased funding was likely to improve the AIDS situation in Africa with especially on treatment and care.

He added, “This is our first clinic in Kenya, and our goal includes bringing much-needed AIDS care and treatment to those in need, including children. We also hope to help scale up the delivery of antiretroviral treatment in Kenya at this community-based setting and other treatment sites in the country in the future.”

AHIF said African governments also needed to ensure a stable commitment in the fight against AIDS adding that additional funding from major economies could help in increased prevention programmes.