A Taste of their Reality
Our dipstick for liquid adherence project is starting to take shape! We have been working to finalize the measurements for the various bottle sizes of both Nevirapine and Kaletra. Nevirapine is a fairly inexpensive ARV given to infants who are born to HIV positive mothers to try and prevent mother to child transmission while Kaletra is given to those infants who were exposed to Nevirapine at birth, but still became HIV positive. Kaletra is expensive and difficult for infants to keep down due to the taste. As we were measuring, even the smell of the syrup was making my stomach queasy.
Since most of our projects deal with mother to child transmission of HIV, here are some facts to know. The normal rate of transmission from an HIV positive mother to baby is about 30% with no intervention. However, if the mother is on ART and the baby is protected during breastfeeding and delivery, that rate can drop to below 2%. In the US, HIV positive mothers would never be allowed to breastfeed their babies, as HIV can be transmitted through breast milk. In Swaziland, however, there is no such option, as infants who are not breastfed face malnutrition or even starvation.
While talking with some of the doctors here at the BIPAI clinic, we were able to get a small glimpse of what HIV positive kids face. Throughout the country, there is huge stigma against HIV. Yet for children, who are born with HIV and have no way of hiding, the stigma can turn to downright cruelty. Often times, families treat the kids (and think of them) as “poisoned children” and basically just wait for them to succumb to the virus. With 25% of the entire population HIV positive, this leaves a lot of children in this condition.
This is the sad reality in Swaziland. We can only hope that the small efforts we undertake to improve the quality of care here can have some small impact on the lives of these children.
On another note, we had the opportunity to climb Brackenhill this weekend. Here is a friend we picked up along the way:
