The Gauteng Provincial Legislature Health Portfolio Committee note the progress that has been made by the Gauteng Department of Health in reducing transmission of HIV to newly born babies.
In the 2012/13 financial year as per the fourth Quarterly Report of the Gauteng Department of Health to the Health Portfolio Committee, only 1,1% of babies born in Gauteng were HIV positive. (When Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV programme was launched in 2003, the rate of transmission was around 10%) This is commendable progress because in real terms it means 98,9% of babies delivered at Gauteng public hospitals are HIV free. This achievement is attributed to the department’s drive to test pregnant women at 20 weeks.
Once pregnant women are diagnosed HIV positive they are immediately put on Anti-Retroviral Treatment and prepared for Nevirapine which is administered during labour. The department’s campaign of exclusive breast feeding also contributes to reduced transmission of HIV among newly born babies.
The Portfolio Committee believes the rate of HIV transmission among newly born babies can be further reduced and eliminated if more pregnant women attended ante-natal clinics and have themselves tested for HIV.
The increase in the uptake of HIV testing during pregnancy assists in ensuring that babies born of HIV mothers are HIV free. The Portfolio Committee further believes that this transmission of HIV to newly born babies could be eliminated in Gauteng owing to the province’s geographical advantage in that public health facilities are accessible within 5 kilometre radius to 97% of its population.
