Baby project a success

A PILOT project conducted by the Lironga Eparu Trust and PharmAccess Namibia to try and halt mother-to-child HIV has come to an end.

The 12-month project provided milk formula to women to decrease the chance of infection through breastfeeding. Only eight of the 152 babies born to HIV-positive mothers tested positive for the virus at the end of the trial.The project also advised pregnant women about the available Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission programmes offered by the public health service.It referred women and babies for anti-retroviral treatment and provided counselling to women to help them cope with the challenges of being an HIV-positive mother.An event to acknowledge the partners involved in the project was held on Monday at the Lironga Eparu headquarters in Windhoek.”I am so grateful to the Orange Baby Pilot Project, from which my niece has benefited a lot.Now I can say she has a future ahead of her,” said one beneficiary.”When my sister passed away last year I was left with the responsibility of looking after her baby and I am thankful for the project, which couldn’t have come at a better time.”Said another woman: “As a young woman living with AIDS, I was kicked out of my house when I revealed my status to my family.I had nowhere to go and I did not know what would become of my unborn child.”When I visited the hospital I was referred to Lironga where my baby received the necessary treatment and now I am happy to say that my baby is HIV negative.I want to encourage the donors to continue with the project and to take it to other regions.Please don’t stop the project yet,” she pleaded.Only eight of the 152 babies born to HIV-positive mothers tested positive for the virus at the end of the trial.The project also advised pregnant women about the available Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission programmes offered by the public health service.It referred women and babies for anti-retroviral treatment and provided counselling to women to help them cope with the challenges of being an HIV-positive mother.An event to acknowledge the partners involved in the project was held on Monday at the Lironga Eparu headquarters in Windhoek.”I am so grateful to the Orange Baby Pilot Project, from which my niece has benefited a lot.Now I can say she has a future ahead of her,” said one beneficiary.”When my sister passed away last year I was left with the responsibility of looking after her baby and I am thankful for the project, which couldn’t have come at a better time.”Said another woman: “As a young woman living with AIDS, I was kicked out of my house when I revealed my status to my family.I had nowhere to go and I did not know what would become of my unborn child.”When I visited the hospital I was referred to Lironga where my baby received the necessary treatment and now I am happy to say that my baby is HIV negative.I want to encourage the donors to continue with the project and to take it to other regions.Please don’t stop the project yet,” she pleaded.