Media practitioners attending the ZLHR media forum
Still, some pregnant women would rather dodge such a life-saving programme.Only 54.9 percent of infants born to HIV-positive two months of life, according to Ministry of Health “After giving birth they are supposed to come back after some time to the hospital for early infant diagnosis,” said Amon Mpofu, Director for Monitoring and Evaluation at the National Aids Council.
“There are some mothers who are not taking their children for PMTCT. Some of the mothers give a wrong address, that’s the problem we are having with PMTCT. When we follow them up we discover they have given wrong addresses or they have given wrong telephone numbers,” said Mpofu. “We don’t know the reasons behind such behaviour but we know that as a result their children cannot be protected. There are other people who are not coming for PMTCT because maybe they don’t know. They are in the periphery, they are in rural areas.
This is the reason why we have to work with chiefs and other community leaders,” said Mpofu.“We need mechanisms to ensure that every mother is registered with a medical centre so that they are enrolled on PMCT,” said Mpofu, adding that PMTCT has increased in rural areas such as Gokwe where traditional chiefs have taken an active role in pushing mothers to access the service.