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…but too few men involved A keen effort is currently being directed to having more men included in the national Prevention of MotherNAPS Programme Manager, Dr Shanti Singhto Child Transmission (PMTCT) Programme. The Programme is one that is geared towards helping to tackle the transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) from a mother to her unborn child.Explaining the process recently to this publication, Manager of the Ministry of Health’s National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS), Dr. Shanti Singh, said that the original intent of the entity is to ensure that once a mother enters an antenatal clinic and is tested positive for HIV, efforts are then made to ensure that she is placed on Antiretrovirals (ARVs).And according to Dr Singh,NFL Jerseys From China, the number of persons that have benefited from the programme has been significant. In fact she disclosed that close to 90 per cent have been tracked by Case Managers. With the aid of Case Managers,Cheap Jerseys From China, Dr Singh asserted that the transmission levels have noticeably declined.“Last year we had about a 1.7 per cent transmission rate and that has decreased from 2.1 per cent the previous year but I don’t know exactly what it stands at this year.”She nevertheless dubbed the programme a “remarkable initiative” as from all indications it has been working well.But although the programme has been yielding successes, Dr Singh noted that one of its expected outcomes has not met the desired expectation. She disclosed that while reducing mother to child transmission is the primary aim of the programme, the programme was also designed to incorporate the support of the male gender as well.Dr Singh said it was hoped the mothers-to-be would have been accompanied by their spouses and also be tested at the same time. While some persons have taken advantage of this, the NAPS Manager pointed out that “I think progress has been slow in that regard; for example you look at the number of the women who have been tested positive and compared that to the number of male partners,NBA Authentic Jerseys, it is relatively low.”“I can’t remember the number off-hand, but I recently looked at the PMTCT programme figures and I don’t think it has reached a two-digit figure,” said Dr Singh of the males enrolled in the programme.However, deliberate efforts are being made to ascertain if and where these males have been tested. One of the focuses of this effort is to determine if they would have been tested at one of the regular Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) Sites that are located across the country. “What we think and have been trying to figure out is a way of verifying this…if some of these males have been visiting VCT sites, if at all,” said Dr Singh, as she pointed out that the aim of this initiative is to include these men in the PMTCT programme.Moreover,Cheap Sports Jerseys, if a man has been tested at one of these sites, Dr Singh said that “they can walk with that result and we can make the documentation,” as she insisted that this tactic is gaining immense attention.And yet another area that was brought on board over the past two years, and has been gaining close attention, is that of a Case Management System. Through this system,Andre Branch Dolphins Jersey, Dr Singh outlined, there are assigned case-trained managers to work with every single pregnant mother who are HIV-positive.“So if that mother comes and is tested HIV-positive, a Case Manager then takes up that mother and makes sure that she is taken to an HIV treatment site, makes sure that she is registered at a treatment site,Deion Jones Falcons Jersey, is placed on ARVs, and follows that mother until that baby is born… and then also follows the mother and baby until 18 months thereafter until a second test is done to ascertain whether that baby is HIV-positive or negative,” Dr Singh detailed.And according to the NAPS Programme Manager, although there have been some reports of challenges in sourcing ARVs to cater to the general national AIDS Programme, this is certainly not the situation that obtains. In fact she categorically asserted that “we haven’t any challenges in sourcing ARVs…”As such she noted that NAPS earlier had cause to issue a press release to clarify that there are no challenges regarding the procurement of ARVs.She disclosed that currently the procurement of ARVs is handled by the Ministry’s financial partners Global Fund, which is tasked with procuring “our first line and PMTCT ARVs through the Voluntary Pool Procurement (VPP) mechanism. So what that means is that we just place the order to the Global Fund and the VPP would basically do the rest and we would receive the ARVs.”Also aiding the procurement of the ARVs, Dr Singh said, is the President Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Programme. Through the PEPFAR programme the Supply Chain Management System, the Ministry’s in-country partner, the second line and the paediatric ARVs are procured.“Over the last three years, if I can jog my memory back, we haven’t had any major issues with procurement of ARVs as it relates to stock or risk of being stock out or so,” asserted Dr Singh.