Government-funded programmes and services for vulnerable - Unicef

Department of Health
➔
The
prevention
of motherto-child
transmission
programme xxvi
There are four elements
of PMTCT:
of HIV, especially
among women of
childbearing age;
pregnancies among
women living with HIV;
transmission from a
woman living with
HIV to her infant;
treatment, care and
support to women
living with HIV.
The expanded package of
PMTCT services includes:
counselling and
testing for all pregnant
women attending
antenatal care;
initiated counselling
and testing services in
the context of PMTCT
in facilities offering
routine antenatal care;
partner and the family
in order to ensure
a comprehensive
approach;
infant feeding options
and assistance in
making appropriate
feeding choices using
the Acceptability,
Feasibility, Safety and
Sustainability (AFFS)
criteria;
Targeted beneficiaries
Pregnant HIV+ women
and HIV-exposed infants
(both those who are
HIV+ and those who are
not)
PMTCT must be
integrated into all
existing mother and
child public health
services and facilities.
Community healthcare
workers employed
by both the state
and NGOs are seen
as key agents for
the education of
communities, families,
women and children
and the enhancement
of utilisation rates of
the PMTCT programme
(as well as other health
programmes).
Primary healthcare
facilities (clinics) are
now expected to be
able to initiate and
provide ART for
both adults and
children. xxvii Up until
2010, ART could
only be initiated by
doctors at accredited
sites. It can now be
initiated and provided
by nurses at primary
healthcare facilities,
with the objective
of caring for an
increasing number of
children and pregnant
women at primary
healthcare level.
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