HIV/AIDS in Burkina Faso: Keeping children and mothers alive and healthy

Supported by UNICEF, St Camille, set up by an Italian religious order, has been the pioneering facility in Burkina Faso for HIV and AIDS care since 2001. From providing testing and counseling to giving ARV treatment and helping people living with HIV and AIDS, the Centres services extended to the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission with its special need for addressing the anxiety and fear of stigma experienced by HIV positive mothers
After my husband died, said Celine, I was getting sick all the time, I came to the clinic to find out what was wrong, I was advised to take the test and found out I was HIV positive. My son Pascal was always always sick, I came to the clinic he was tested HIV- positive. When I feel pregnant a second time, I approached the clinic and enrolled me in the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission programme.

Céline is just one of the 1500 positives pregnant women who enroll in the programme each year. At least 10% of the women turn out to be HIV positive, but through Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission its not longer a given that their babies will come infected.

HIV prevalence in Burkina is estimated to be around 2%, it is the youth who are most at risk. An estimated 17 000 children are infected and by the end of 2007, only 630 of them were receiving ARV treatment. But here again, St Camilles is taking the lead. The pediatric section UNICEF supported receives referrals from all over the city and at present monitors over 200 children that are either HIV positive or showing signs of the virus.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• burkina
• hiv
• aids
• unicef