BOTSWANA: HIV-positive mothers slow on PMTCT

Botswana's President Festus Mogae has expressed concern over the failure by some expectant mothers to enrol in the country's programme for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV.

Mogae told a group of journalists in Bangkok recently that most women were still reluctant to enrol for fear of victimisation by family members or their communities.

He urged all HIV-positive expectant mothers to consider the lives of their unborn babies as well as their own.

The local Daily News newspaper quoted Mogae as saying: "One's life is more important than what the third party thinks."

Launched in two cities in 1999, the PMTCT programme is now national and provides HIV-positive expectant mothers with a six-week course of antiretroviral treatment that reduces the chances of infecting their unborn babies.

Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews, Children,

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]