340 children in Delhi born with HIV/AIDS in a year

[Guest guest]

340 children in Delhi born with HIV/AIDS in a year

Press Trust of India

New Delhi, November 27, 2005

As many as 340 infants are estimated to be suffering from HIV/AIDS

at the time of birth in the capital every year.

Faced with the grim figure and other worrying statistics showing a

rise in prevalence of the disease among pregnant women, a silent

campaign has begun in the capital to ensure that not only is the

child protected from the disease but the mother also benefits from

Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART).

" Of around three lakh children born in Delhi every year, our

estimate is that 340 of them are infected with the AIDS virus which

they have contracted from their mothers, " JP Kapoor, Additional

Project Director of the Delhi State AIDS Control Society (DSACS)

said.

At the 10 Prevention of Parent-to-Child Transmission Centres (PPTCs)

in Delhi, this year so far 49 pregnant women were given the anti-

AIDS drug Neviraprine, which has been found to be very effective in

preventing the spread of the disease from the mother to the child.

The drug is being given free of cost at the PPTCs to pregnant women

suffering from the disease.

" The drug, if administered to the mother four hours before the child

is born, is effective in preventing infection in the child, " Kapoor

said.

" The women also benefit from ART therapy, which is also given to

them free of cost, " he said.

He informed that there has been an increase in the number of

pregnant women coming to the PPTCs.

Last year, 44 HIV-positive women had come to the Centres and were

given the drug Neviraprine.

There are 30 per cent chances of an AIDS-afflicted woman who is

pregnant passing on the disease to her child, and the risk is

maximum at the time of delivery.

Outgoing Principal Health Secretary (Delhi Government) B Prasad said

the focus is on encouraging women to come forward to get tested for

the virus.

" We have an outreach programme called `MITWA', as part of which

mobile testing vans are going into slum areas, providing both

testing and counselling facility, " she said.

Also, at the `Stree Shakti' camps organised by the Health Department

of Delhi Government in Delhi, women are encouraged to go in for free

testing for the virus.

As for the all-India picture, nearly 22,837 new born children are

infected with the disease and about 11,434 die due to it.

There are an estimated 2,02,000 children suffering from HIV/AIDS in

India at present.

Meanwhile, Kapoor said the problem could be bigger than brought out

by the statistics available.

" The figures that we have on pregnant women suffering from HIV/AIDS

are based on cases that come to our 10 PPTCs. No doubt, there must

be more pregnant women in the city who are suffering from the

disease, " he said.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1557877,000600010001.htm