Calls for decentralisation of HIV lab testing for infants

PEOPLE living with HIV have called for decentralisation of HIV laboratory testing for infants amid revelations that there are only three laboratories in the country that can confirm the presence of the virus in children.

In an interview during an ongoing National Aids Council-organised tour of HIV programmes in Mashonaland East province, Mrs Derby Makiyi of Gwaze village in Goromonzi, said she was still waiting for HIV results for a baby she gave birth to in July.

“It is not a comfortable experience to wait for results for months.

“You know the anxiety one has when waiting for results for those 20 minutes using a rapid result test for adults.

“You can imagine how it feels like to wait for months,” said Mrs Makiyi, who is living with HIV.

She said Government and its partners must decentralise laboratory testing services for infants so that they get their results quickly.

Mrs Makiyi is one of hundreds of HIV positive women of child-bearing age and look forward to giving birth to HIV-negative children through PMTCT.

“While I will accept any result that comes, no woman wants to give birth to an HIV-positive child, especially after going through the PMTCT programme,” said Mrs Makiyi.

She said she would continue feeding her child with breast milk as advised by nurses.

Currently, only Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare offer laboratory testing facilities.

All 1 643 clinics offering PMTCT send samples to these centres.

A health worker at Chinyika Clinic in Goromonzi, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing protocol, said centralisation of HIV testing for infants was a huge challenge in the PMTCT programme.

He said as a clinic, they only took samples of the infants, which they sent to Harare using private transporters.

He said the samples were sent once every week and results usually returned after four weeks.

“We always explain to the mothers that results will take at least four weeks to come out.

“But as parents they are anxious to know the status of their children as quickly as possible,” he said.

Head of Aids and Tuberculosis Unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Owen Mugurungi said Government was working on introducing point-of-care machines, which would be sent to district hospitals.

“We acknowledge that the current set-up is not ideal and that is why we are pushing for point-of-care machines.

“These machines will be decentralised to communities to shorten the waiting time mothers endure waiting to know the status of their children,” said Dr Mugurungi.

Zimbabwe is on the verge of eliminating new paediatric HIV infections, with the PMTCT programme having managed to reduce the transmission rate from 30 percent in 2006 to 6,7 percent.

The PMTCT programme was launched in 2012 as a national programme spearheaded by Elizabeth Glasier-Paediatric Foundation (EGPAF).

Government made a commitment to decrease the rate of new HIV infections among children to 5 percent by 2015 and adopted the World Health Organisation’s PMTCT guidelines, which recommend lifelong anti-retroviral therapy among pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV.