HARARE - The new World Health Organisation HIV/AIDS guidelines on preventing mother- to-child HIV transmission are a dream, a senior government official in the ministry of health has said.
The country does not have the necessary equipment to place in its more than 1500 maternity centres which are in the country. In 2010, the WHO reviewed the CD4 count level to 340 from 200 for people to commence ARVs. The count can only be determined by a CD4 machine.
Dr Owen Mugurungi who heads the HIV/AIDS and TB department in the Health and Child welfare Ministry said in an interview that the new guidelines meant there was now urgent need to test people. CD4 count machines are only found in provincial and district hospitals, and for universal access to HIV treatment to be achieved every health care centre needs one. Clinical assessment is no longer sufficient to capture those without symptoms, but with a CD4 count of less than 350. So we need to make sure that CD4 testing is available at all health institutions, said Mugurungi.
If we really believe that we can reduce Mother-to-child transmission CD4 testing has to be also available in all maternity units throughout the country, he added. According the National AIDS Council Zimbabwe has more than 100 000 people who are not accessing antiretroviral drugs, a situation it attributes to a shortage of CD4 count machines which qualify an HIV positive patient to go on treatment.
Zimbabwe also suffered a big blow last year when it failed to qualify for the round 10 of the Global Fund. Under round 10 of the Global Fund the country had applied for $170 million for HIV and US$50 million for Tuberculosis. As a result the country has to rely on the AIDS levy. But despite inadequate resources the countrys HIV prevalence continues to decline, from over 28% in five years ago to less than 15% now.
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