Published on : 14/07/2022 – 12:04
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The DRC is one of the countries most affected by HIV in Africa with a high prevalence among vulnerable groups such as women, who represent approximately 76% of people living with HIV, children, prostitutes and the LGBT+ community. On a mission in Kinshasa, the global coalition to fight this virus warns of the importance of mother-to-child transmission of HIV: nearly 40%, 8,800 new infections were among children in 2020.
With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Pascal Mulegwa
Mothers benefit from a “mentoring” program to help survive and protect their children. Under a hangar at the Bondeko centre, there is Anny, who is surrounded by a dozen mothers carrying the virus; she came to inform and motivate them. Some are pregnant. Liliane carries in her hands her one-and-a-half-year-old child, who is undergoing treatment. ” I follow the advice, it’s my friends who brought me here, it allows at least not to hide and die in silence. I am taking medication, this child was born without a viral load. I hope he will be healthy when I stop breastfeeding. With my first child, it was a nightmare “, she says.
Caring for bodies and souls
The eldest, carrier of the virus, is 7 years old today. ” I was not informed at the time. His father had abandoned me, the child leads a difficult life. He struggles to adapt with HIV, she continues. Sometimes you have to flatter him, offer him gifts so that he can take his pills… Above all, it requires a great commitment from the parents. Without rigor, children refuse antiretrovirals and die. »
The task is double for the supervisors: to take care of the body but also their soul. Doctor Guy Kasongo coordinates the mentoring support program in Kinshasa. ” Our target is threefold : there is the pregnant PLHIV woman, the breastfeeding PLHIV woman and the child of an HIV-positive motherhe explains. It is only through these testimonies that we go into the field. As a result, we have many HIV-positive women who join. »
The means are insufficient in the face of the influx of women who have died from the consequences of HIV in the maternities. In the country, only 39% of them have access to treatment.
►Also read: DRC: AIDS continues to kill due to lack of means for care
■ Chloé le Gouez, from the Aides association: “ It is important that funds are put into these programs »
Chloé le Gouez, head of health, community and international advocacy at Aidesa member of the International HIV Response Coalition, explains: “ In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the rate of mother-to-child transmission of the HIV/AIDS virus remains very high. This rate is 40%, so it is very alarming. But the answers do exist, we have seen them in the field with this mentoring program, with self-support groups from support to therapeutic education. »
« These community health programs succeed in stopping or stemming the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child. That is why it is important that funds be allocated to these programs. It is important because the Global Fund is funded in line with the needs in terms of preventing mother-to-child transmission. »
« The conference to set up the Global Fund will be held in September and we are at a crossroads, in any case, the international community, in particular the so-called major donor countries such as France. Aides, which is a member of the International AIDS coalition, coalition+, is asking France to increase its contribution to 2 billion and is expected to do so next September. »
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