GlobalPost blog series examines PMTCT program in South Africa

Jun 23 2012

In the third of a series of entries in GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog, titled "A Daughter's Journey," Tracy Jarrett, a GlobalPost/Kaiser Family Foundation global health reporting fellow, visits a USAID-funded HIV clinic at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital outside of Johannesburg, South Africa. The clinic's Perinatal HIV/AIDS Research Unit (PHRU) focuses on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) with funding from USAID and PEPFAR, she states, noting that the "clinic has been a game changer for mothers in Soweto [township] and an example for other PMTCT clinics throughout South Africa" (6/21). Jarrett, whose mother died of AIDS-related complications, is traveling "from Chicago to New York to South Africa to report on what is being done to keep babies and their mothers alive, to fight against stigma and to help those infected while reporting on what is still left to do to achieve an 'AIDS-free generation,'" according to the first post in her series (6/15). The second post also is available online (6/19).