Maternal health project in Kwa Zulu Natal brings hope to pregnant women living with HIV

© UNICEF video/2008

Thabisile Dhlamini, 27, has to deal with the stigma of living with HIV on a daily basis in Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa.

By Guy Hubbard

UNICEF's latest ‘Progress for Children’ report highlights the risk of maternal mortality in the developing world. Here is one in a series of related stories.

KWA ZULU NATAL, South Africa, 19 September 2008 – The province of Kwa Zulu Natal has become synonymous with South Africa’s AIDS epidemic. The infection rates here are some of the highest in the country, and the province’s pregnant women are at risk. Over a third of pregnant women are infected, making them and their unborn babies the most vulnerable.

Maternal mortality rates of between 10 and 15 per cent within two years of delivery among HIV-infected women have been reported. Meanwhile, the rate of mother-to-child transmission of the virus, in the absence of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, remains unacceptably high.

Apart from fighting the virus, women here also have to fight the stigma.

“There are people that think, if you’ve got HIV it’s like you’re going to die, and if you’re pregnant and you’ve got HIV, your baby is not going to make it at the end,” said Thabisile Dhlamini, age 27, who deals with the stigma daily.

Saving mothers and their children

But UNICEF has been working with the World Health Organization and the University of Kwa Zulu Natal on the Kesho Bora research project to reduce maternal mortality and mother-to-child transmission. The overall goal is to optimize the use of ARV therapy during the antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum periods, in order to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission and preserve the health of mothers.

© UNICEF video/2008

Women wait with their children at a clinic in Kwa Zulu Natal. Through the interventions of the Kesho Bora project, mothers here are giving birth to healthy babies and are themselves living healthier lives.

HIV increases the potential for haemorrhaging during childbirth, and the trauma of giving birth often leaves HIV-positive mothers with weakened immune systems and increased vulnerability to infection. With this in mind, the Kesho Bora project recognizes that efforts to prevent HIV infection in newborns must also include measures to prevent the illness or death of their mothers.

Researchers note that a motherless newborn’s life will remain in jeopardy, and an orphaned child will experience a reduced quality of life.

‘Hope that it’s not over’

The Kesho Bora project recruits pregnant women who are living with HIV and provides them with treatment, counselling and a stipend to cover food costs. Also, and most important, it offers hope. 

“The ideas that we are sharing with them are giving them the hope that it’s not over. They are going to live longer as we make things better for them, like giving them the ARV pills and giving them advice [on] eating healthy food,” said one of the Kesho Bora HIV/AIDS counsellors, Edith Mapitshe.

Through the interventions of the Kesho Bora project, mothers here are giving birth to healthy babies. At the same time, the women themselves, through ARV therapy, diet and other means, are becoming healthier and living longer.