Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 2 186 609 at noon on July 11
Thousands of pregnant women have been tested for HIV since Liberia introduced a programme to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmissions eight months ago, according to the National Aids Control Programme (NACP).
‘The turnout of pregnant women at hospitals and clinics where we are doing this programme has been very impressive; records have shown that hundreds of women a month go through the test at each of the health centres,” said Josephine Freeman of the NACP.
The services are available at nine hospitals in six of Liberia’s 15 counties.
Freeman said the government hoped to roll out the programme to other hospitals and clinics, particularly in rural areas, with funding from Unicef.
‘By the end of this year, the plan is to gradually cover almost all of the counties,” she said.
Liberia has no national HIV prevalence figure, but health workers estimate infection rates at between 5% and 10%.
Source: PlusNews