USCDC Introduces ‘Baby Shower’ To Prevent Mother -To- Child HIV Transmission
By Alice Etuka, Abuja
In line with efforts to achieve the target of eradicating HIV from Nigeria by 2030, the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC) has launched a ‘baby Shower’ program to
prevent mother to child transmission of HIV in the country.
USCDC Program Deputy Director, Dr. Jerry Gwamna disclosed this in his opening remarks at a media round table held in Abuja recently.
Gwamna explained that the Baby Shower program was a U.S. CDC supported initiative geared towards preventing the transmission of HIV from mothers to their unborn babies.
He further informed that the program was an adopted Congregational Approach which ensured that women who could not go to the health facilities for antenatal services were attended to through faith based institutions, since most Nigerians were very religious.
Also called the Congregational Approach to Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission, the program involves layering health services, including HIV testing, donation of delivery kits to the pregnant women, health talks e.t.c through a coordinated gatekeeper.
According to him, a significant proportion of the Nigerian population attend religious activities regularly and the religious leaders had, over time, earned the trust of the community members. Hence faith-based institutions were seen as a platform to promote healthy behavioral practices in the community.
Gwamna, therefore, called on the Media to fully participate in ensuring that the message yielded the desire objectives of the program the Baby Shower.
On his part, the U.S. CDC Prevention Branch Chief, Dr. Tim Efuntoye in his presentation, explained that the aim of the program was to save innocent unborn children from contracting HIV from parents who are positive.
Efuntoye also said with the aid of the congregational approach adopted in Mosques and Churches the program was yielding positive results and also emphasised that they were looking forward to including the traditional sector in ensuring that the futures of the unborn children were saved.
He added that result from October 2022 to March 2024 revealed that One Hundred and Twenty Six congregation have been activated across the thirteen States of the federation also Ninety four baby shower event was held.”
“Also 25,092 participants, with 226 average number of participants per baby shower and 0.30% of the pregnant Women was screened at the baby shower event were identified as HIV positive. 100% of all the HIV positive women identified were confirmed and linked to antiretroviral treatment” Efuntayo said.
He advised pregnant women to pay close attention to their health, attend antenatal sessions regularly, and carry out all required tests including HIV.
“Spouses of pregnant women should support their spouse to access healthcare services, including antenatal care during pregnancy.”
“Religious leaders should encourage their congregants to get tested for HIV before and during pregnancies to ensure stigma-free, non-discriminatory treat”. He added
Some of the beneficiaries of the Baby Shower Program, Juliet Friday and Torseer Kadir expressed their views on how the program helped them through the congregational approach and called on pregnant women to always visit healthcare facilities to save the lives of their unborn children.
