 |
|
  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
The Body PRO
Prevention of Mother-to-Child TransmissionStudy Summary by Louise Kuhn, Ph.D.
July 20, 2009 There's nothing like hearing the results of studies directly from those who actually conducted the research. In this summary, you'll hear Louise Kuhn, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, in the Mailman School of Public Health, summarize her plenary talk "Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission."1 To view a video of the plenary session, click here. To view her slides, click here.
I spoke this morning on prevention of mother-to-child transmission. What I was trying to do was to make two points. The first point which I was trying to make was that it's very, very important that pregnant women and breastfeeding women who have CD4 counts less than 350 should receive HAART [highly active antiretroviral therapy] for their own health. This intervention will be beneficial to maternal health, and will reduce maternal mortality and improve the quality of lives of young mothers. This intervention will also prevent mother-to-child transmission: transmission that happens during the pregnancy, and also transmission that happens during the breastfeeding. There are now several very clear studies showing the benefits of maternal HAART, and this is really an absolutely win-win intervention. It's very, very important. But it's not difficult in practice. So it's very important that programs get sufficient resources to implement this intervention, because it's probably the single most effective thing, both for transmission and, of course, for maternal health. That was the first point which I was trying to make in my presentation. The second point I was trying to make is that prevention of mother-to-child transmission programs have to think about child survival, in general, and can't simply focus on HIV prevention. Because there's very little point of preventing HIV if we are simply causing other fatal diseases in these children. So we have to think about the promotion of child survival, in addition to thinking about prevention of HIV. Again, the way in which to accomplish this is really through the first point, which is the provision of maternal HAART. Some of the attempts to look at providing formula and shortening the duration of breastfeeding have unfortunately been a failure. They have not improved child survival, and they have caused other diseases among children. So it's important that we then go back to, rather, providing antiretroviral treatment to the mother so that we can reduce HIV transmission through breastfeeding. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Reference
Comment by: Joannes Paulus Yimbesalu
(New Mexico, Las Vegas)
Fri., Oct. 2, 2009 at 5:31 pm EDT Hello, This is quite an interesting report and I think this is vital information to all pregnant mothers. Its good that these pregnant mothers know their status when they become pregnant as it is the only way forward. I am a medical laboratory scientist from Cameroon doing my masters degree in biomedical sciences and taking some coures oin Public Health esprcailly on Maternal mortality and HIV/AIDS.thansk for sharing this with us
Comment by: Ade Fakoya
(International HIV-AIDS Alliance , London UK)
Thu., Aug. 13, 2009 at 10:54 am EDT Dear Louise an excellent presentation and I agree with you wholeheartedly on providing HAART to all pregnant women with CD4 counts less than 350 and ensuring that attention is given to neonatal child health and survival. I have two comments. What do you think about providing HAART to ALL HIV positive pregnant women irrespective of CD4 count to reduce breast milk transmissions. second, in your presentation there is a slide where the transmission rate for countries Cote D'ivore Botswana and Tanzania are less than 2%. Could you clarify the treatment policies in these countries? thanks
Comment by: Bello
(Houston, Texas)
Tue., Aug. 4, 2009 at 11:22 pm EDT What are the risks involved when wife is positive and husband is negative and they plan on having a child?
Comment by: Sunny
(Memphis,Tn)
Thu., Jul. 30, 2009 at 8:07 pm EDT My husband and I are wanting to have a baby but he is HIV positive and im negative. We are very concerned with passing the virus on to our baby. Is HAART a precaution that I can take prior to getting pregnant? Do I need to ask my doctor about how to start it.
Comment by: Louise
(New York)
Thu., Jul. 30, 2009 at 5:00 pm EDT Dear Helen - if your CD4 is above 350 and you are conscientiously taking HAART, there is about 1% chance that your child may be infected through breastfeeding. However, if you don't breastfeed your child will be deprived of all the nutritious and immunological benefits of your own breast milk. Given how low the risk of transmission is - on balance it is better for you and your child to breastfeed.
Comment by: Helen Lawrence
(Lagos, Nigeria)
Mon., Jul. 27, 2009 at 8:12 am EDT Does it mean it is safe to breastfeed if CD 4 count is above 350? what is the risk to the child? I want to have a child and my CD4 is above 350 and I am on HAART. Please, address this issue, considering the benefit of breast milk.
Comment by: Louis
(Orlando, Florida)
Fri., Jul. 24, 2009 at 3:12 am EDT I recently began learning more about how I can help the HUG ME Program in Orlando and TOPWA prevent transmission. Offering support to these mothers keeps them on the healthy path and TOPWA gets to save lives and keep medical costs down. I enjoyed reading about your efforts.
Add Your Comment:
(Please note: Your name and comment will be public, and may even show up in
Google search results. Be careful when providing personal information!) This article was provided by The Body PRO. It is a part of the publication The 5th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention.
|
E-Mail
Comments
Printable Single-Page
Glossary
Share
