Research Projects

• Millennium Villages
• Access Project
• CNHDE
• HIV/AIDS
• Tuberculosis
• Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Human Nutrition
• Community Health Workers
• Early Childhood Development
• mHealth
• eHealth
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Support to the Health Extension Program of the Ethiopian Ministry of Health
• Nigeria OSSAP/LGA Conditional Grant Scheme
• Climate Risk Management and Public Health
• Haiti Project
• Tropical Lab Initiative
• Eliminating Mother to Child Transmission of HIV
• Oral Hygiene
• International Advisory Panel on the National Rural Health Mission of India
• Model Districts Project in India
• Ministerial Working Group

Eliminating Mother to Child Transmission of HIV

AIDS is the leading causes of death in Sub-Saharan infants and children, yet the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child can be reduced from around 30%—the risk without

any intervention—to less than 5% through a package of interventions referred to as PMTCT—prevention of mother-to-child-transmission of HIV. Through a partnership with UNAIDS, MVP has launched in 2010 the "MTCT-free zones" with a goal to virtually eliminate the transmission of HIV from mother to child across all MVP sites using the following integrated four-prong strategy:

• Preventing women of child-bearing age from acquiring HIV infection;
• Preventing unintended pregnancies among women living with HIV;
• Preventing HIV transmission from women living with HIV to their children and
• Provision of care, treatment and support to mothers living with HIV, their children and their families.

The UNAIDS-MVP partnership ensures that activities incorporated into the maternal-child health care package are implemented in cooperation with governments, local and international partners, and the respective communities. In addition, tackling the cultural barriers of female disempowerment and discrimination is being added as another tool to reduce HIV transmission.

Activities and Highlighted Achievements

• After consulting with health care providers, pregnant women and community health workers (CHWs) in the Sauri Cluster in Western Kenya, a mobile phone module was added to MVP's ChildCount+, which is an mHealth platform aimed at empowering communities to improve child survival and maternal health. The new application registers and follows HIV positive pregnant women to increase the uptake of antenatal care services and decrease defaulter rates of receiving full intervention treatments. By sending confidential messages to CHWs attending for pregnant women, and by sending messages intended for all women, regardless of their HIV status, it also reduces the stigma attached to women living with the HIV infection. In addition, having an appointment tracker at their disposal helps to remind the women of treatments and clinic visits. All nine of the health centers in the Sauri cluster are now using this module, with more than 200 mothers being traced after the first few weeks and more being registered each day. It is predicted that this advancement will help Sauri achieve its goal of zero percent mother to child transmission of HIV within the next 2 years.
• In Ruhiira, Uganda, a survey of women aged 18 to 24 found that about 8 of every 10 girls around the age of 12-13 are having sex with older men in the community in exchange for gifts – a phenomenon referred to as “cross generational sex”. In addition, very few people are using condoms despite on-going campaigns to promote use. In an effort to build self-esteem and give women a financial backing, a newly created Adolescent Center will function as a youth-led system of business enterprise that subsidizes services such as education, mentorship, life-skills courses, healthcare, and recreation.

Contact
Please contact Dr. Yanis Ben Amor with inquiries regarding Eliminating Mother to Child Transmission of HIV at the Earth Institute.