The Sunday News
Lackson Munkombwe Sunday News Reporter
MOST men are still reluctant to accompany their pregnant partners to test for HIV and Aids resulting in efforts to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission being compromised, an official has said. Speaking during the technical team workshop for National Aids Council in Bulawayo on Friday, district heads co-ordinator, Mrs Priscila Mac Isaac said results which were done in Luveve District showed that during the first quarter of the year, out of 286 pregnant women who went for testing, only 31 of them went with their partners with 25 testing positive.
Mrs Mac Isaac said most women who tested HIV positive refused to start taking treatment as soon as possible due to fear of victimisation from their husbands, a situation which they fear was likely going to increase the chances of the virus being transmitted to the unborn babies.
“We have realised that most men do not go for testing together with their wives,” said Mrs Mac Isaac. “The issue of disclosure among pregnant women who test positive after falling pregnant becomes very critical due to the fact that they are afraid to approach their partners over the issues.”
She said those who start to take medication are also defaulting in the process.
“We have realised that most women are defaulting on taking the Aids treatment during the period of pregnancy. We would want a lot of men to participate in the PMTCT programmes so that they understand the importance of knowing each other’s status and also ensuring that the unborn babies are protected. This will also help more women to open up and be assisted in the process,” Mrs Isaac said.
She said that women must not wait until they are five to six months pregnant to register their pregnancies so that there is constant checkup.
“Women must always ensure that once they discover that they are pregnant, they have to get registered and also be tested for any possible diseases such as HIV and other STIs. Women must know their statuses as early as possible so that if they are found positive, they quickly get treatment. This is meant to reduce the risks of spreading the diseases to the infants,” she said.
The statistics from Luveve revealed that the cases of new sexual transmitted infections treated in Luveve district were still very high even though there was slight decrease as revealed in the first quarter of the year.
“There were 289 cases of STIs treated in Luveve district during the first quarter of the year. The number is still relatively high, which comes to our attention that people are not using protection as required,” said Mrs Mac Isaac.
She said over 4 000 people are on Antiretroviral treatment (ART) in Luveve district and advised people to be cautious of engaging in unsafe sex which was putting a lot of people in danger of getting STIs and HIV and Aids.
