The Hiv / Aids Epidemic - 1072 Words

As an upper-middle income country with high spending on healthcare, South Africa has been performing poorly on certain health indicators (as seen in Table 1), with their biggest issue being in the fight against HIV/AIDS (Country and Lending Groups, n.d.). They have one of the highest prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS in the world at 19.1%, and the incidence of new cases is increasing steadily (Milan, 2014; CIA, n.d.). To combat this growing problem President Jacob Zuma launched the largest HIV Counseling and Testing campaign in the world in April 2010 (â€Å"Global AIDS†, 2012). In the same year, the country also achieved a significant reduction in the price of antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) (â€Å"Global AIDS†, 2012). Despite this progress, these†¦show more content†¦As seen in Figure 1, the prevalence of HIV infection in pregnant women increased dramatically from 1990-2010 (Medwiser, n.d.; †Eliminating mother-to-child†, 2012). South Africa needs to de vote greater resources on this group, in order to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV, so these women do not pass it on to their future children. Figure 1. Prevalence of HIV infection in pregnant women, South Africa, 1990-2010 (â€Å"Eliminating mother-to-child†, 2012) To combat mother-to-child transmission of HIV, the South African government implemented a PMTCT program in 2001 (Bodibe, 2013). When the program began, pregnant women with HIV took just a single tablet of a drug called Nevirapine during labor to prevent transmission, with very little intervention of any kind before and after the birth of the child (Bodibe, 2013). At the time the CDC recommended that women should avoid breastfeeding because it was another route of HIV transmission (Kuhn Kroon, 2015). From the CDC’s recommendation, the South African government committed to supplying formula to HIV-positive mothers (Bodibe,