African AIDS Programs Should Focus on Expectant Mothers, Conference Hears

The most effective way to fight AIDS in Africa is to make pregnant HIV-positive women the focus of treatment programs, according to information presented Wednesday at a conference in Rome. Some 500 people -- including the health ministers of 11 African countries, AIDS activists, World Bank, and World Health Organization officials -- attended the Community of Sant'Egidio's meeting. The Roman Catholic organization is dedicated to conflict resolution and assistance to the poor.

Sant'Egidio's "Dream" pilot project in Mozambique was described as "the best results obtained up until now in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of treatment" for HIV/AIDS. Launched two years ago, Dream offers to HIV-positive pregnant women free antiretroviral drugs in order to block mother-to-child transmission of the virus. "Since Dream's launch, 400 healthy children have been born from infected mothers," said program Coordinator Paola Germano.

In addition, Dream has tested some 7,000 people for HIV in Mozambique, a country where an estimated 14 percent of the population of 17 million are HIV-infected. Four thousand HIV-positive people are now receiving either antiretrovirals or other medical treatment, said the organization.

Programs that are being launched in Malawi, Tanzania, and Guinea Bissau are using Dream as a model, as are others to come in Angola and Guinea, said Germano.

The African health ministers in attendance were expected to sign an appeal for increased international pressure on drug companies to lower the cost of antiretrovirals, which, though much reduced in price in recent years, remain prohibitive for most Africans.

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