More PMTCT interventions needed, experts at WHO Regional meeting say

Sep 5 2009

Experts participating in the 59th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa called for more interventions to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT), New Times/allAfrica.com reports.

Coceka Nandipha Mnyani, an HIV researcher from the University of Witswatersrand, said officials should promote best practices of PMTCT and that efforts to curb transmission through breast feeding are required. With 90 percent of the world's HIV positive children living in Africa, Mnyani said, "it is however vital for countries to translate science into practice."

Jules Mugabo, acting director of the HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections unit in TRAC plus, highlighted Rwanda's PMTCT program, which has "expanded" its services and reduced HIV prevalence in exposed infants (Nambi, 9/4).