Commissioner Buncamper pleased to hear US$50 million to be spent on halting mother-to-child transmission of HIV
Commissioner of Health Affairs Maria Buncamper-Molanus, says that she is pleased to hear that three organizations, namely UNICEF (United Nations Childrenâ??s Fund), UNITAID (United Nations International Financing Facility) and the World Health Organization (WHO), have pooled financial resources together to the tune of US$50 million to halt mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
Over the next two years, UNIAID funding will be used to test some 10 million pregnant women for HIV and treat 285,000 mothers and children in nine target countries. The nine countries represent approximately 25 per cent of the worldâ??s HIV-infected pregnant women giving birth annually.
The project also allows UNICEF to negotiate reduced drug prices, allowing for greater scale-up of more effective treatment for HIV-infected women as well as aim to prevent infection in their children.
"This is a very important development in the fight against HIV-AIDS. Testing pregnant women for HIV gives mothers a better chance to survive this disease. I encourage pregnant women in our community to get tested for HIV.
"Women and their children as well as society benefit when life-saving treatment is provided to HIV positive mothers as quickly as possible. Women play a very important role in the development of their communities," Commissioner of Health Affairs Maria Buncamper-Molanus told the Government Information Service (GIS).