“90% EMTCT Possible In Rivers”

The target of eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS EMTCT in Rivers State by 90 percent can be made possible, but it will require the commitment of all stakeholders.
A medical epidemiologist and lead consultant for the Rivers State Strategic Plan Project, Dr Urang Joseph, stated this in an exclusive  interview recently at a four-day State Strategic Plan (SSP) workshop in Port \harcourt.
According to him,  achieve the targeted 90 percent EMTCT, every pregnant woman diagnosed to be HIV positive will have to be on anti-retroviral.
To achieve this however, he said government would have to promulgate relevant laws to compel positive pregnant women to access ARV, and everybody should see it as a prority to convince such positive pregnant women to access Antenatal  Care (ANC).
“If government is able to promulgate laws, and we are able to convince all our pregnant mothers to deliver in hospital and do focus ANC, obviously we will be able to cover it, he said.
On measures put in place to track HIV positive mothers so they could deliver in health facilities, Dr Joseph explained that some measures are in place, but plagued by challenges.
One of such challenges according to him is the unwillingness by the women to regularly access ANC up to the point of delivery.
According to him, only 50 percent  of such women access ANC, with the remaining 50 percent  opting for churches and traditional birth attendant (TBA).
Out of the 50 percent that manage to come for ANC, we still lose at least 30  percent, he said.
This, he continued, is also caused by the attitude of health workers, who sometimes are not friendly.
Beyond this, he continued, fund is required to enhance follow-up, ‘because the health workers should not be expected to use their money to buy recharge cards to enable them call the women who abstain from accessing ANC.
The overall thing is to encourage people to have health seeking behaviour. Once we have this, every other aspect will naturally fall into place”, he concluded.
Also speaking, the monitoring and Evaluation officer for RIVSACA, Dr Isaiah K Mac-Moses stated that without the development of SSP, there will be no HIV implementation for the state.
According to him, between 2017 to 2021, it is expected that mother- to-child transmission of HIV will be eliminated.
“The SSP is seen as the Bible of the State.  It is not for RIVSACA alone, but for the entire state which will guide the response in the next five years, from 2017 to 2021”, he said.
Dr Mac-Moses, however, urged participants to put in their best in order to ensure elimination of HIV/AIDS in Rivers State.

Sogbeba Dokubo