HIV and Hepatitis B: Namibia is partly the first African country to eliminate mother-to-pikin transmission

On By Vaseline

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Namibia is yet to reach a major stage of ending mother-to-child transmission of HIV and Hepatitis B, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, calls this one of the greatest achievements in public health.

Namibia is reaching this milestone after years of efforts to provide pregnant women with early access to prenatal care, testing and medicines to ensure these diseases are not passed from mother to pikin.

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Eliminating infections

Where this photo comes from Getty Images

Every year, approximately 1.2 million women worldwide live with HIV.

They have a 15-45% chance of transmitting the virus to children during pregnancy, labor, delivery or breastfeeding if left untreated.

That risk drops to about 1% if both mothers and diabetic babies collect antiretroviral medications.

And every year, nearly a million pregnant women worldwide become infected with Hepatitis B and transmit it to diabetic babies.

Again, early screening and treatment of these women can prevent complications for unborn children.

More than half of people in East and Southern Africa worldwide contract HIV. And Africa is responsible for two-thirds of new hepatitis B infections worldwide.

Namibia is home to more than 200,000 prisoners living with HIV and new infections affecting women.

How Namibia achieves these milestones

In Namibia, primary health care including antenatal health care, child health care and sexual and reproductive health care is made a priority.

Di goment deploys stable domestic financing for national healthcare programs and provides accessible, high-quality and free clinical services and support.

Di Kontri makes HIV testing among pregnant women almost universally available across Di Kontri and access to treatment has led to a 70% reduction in vertical transmission over the past twenty years.

In 2022, only 4% of babies born to mothers with HIV will contract the virus.

Nearly 80% of infants receive a timely dose of hepatitis B vaccine at birth, one of the most important success factors on the road to elimination.

The World Health Organization awards Namibia “silver status” for progress in reducing hepatitis B and “bronze status” for progress on HIV.

Namibia’s achievement is the result of a strong strategy to halt the transmission of hepatitis B, HIV and syphilis.

WHO’s Triple Elimination Initiative aims to protect the health of mothers and children and aims to affirm the rights of every child to be born free from the burden of these viruses.

“Namibia is not meeting this milestone because they are really taking the integrated approach to HIV response seriously,”

“Namibia reaches mothers and children, even children in most rural areas are not left out.” Etleva Kadilli, UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa tok.

Globally, seven in 10 pregnant women with HIV from low- and middle-income families receive effective antiretroviral medications to prevent transmission of the virus to children.