Tulungagung (ANTARA) – The AIDS Commission (KPA) of Tulungagung Regency, East Java, revealed that at least 52 children in the area were infected with HIV/AIDS from their mothers.
“The majority of these children with the status of PLWHA (people with HIV/AIDS) were infected from their mothers when they were still in the womb,” said Tulungagung KPA Secretary Ifada Nur Rohmania in Tulungagung, Monday.
Since 2015, KPA Tulungagung has actually adopted the program Prevention Mother to Child Transmission of HIV or PMTCT.
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This program targets PLWHA from the group of housewives or women, as an effort to minimize the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission to the fetus when the sufferer undergoes a pregnancy program.
“The PMTCT program in Tulungagung only existed in 2015, while most children and adolescents infected with HIV/AIDS were born before 2015. This means that there is no such program,” he said.
He said that of the 52 PLWHA in the child group, 10 of them were still children, the rest were teenagers.
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The actual number may be more than the data compiled by KPA because many cases of HIV/AIDS in children have not been reported to KPA.
“That number is relative. It could be that the number of findings is small due to lack of counseling,” he said.
On average, children living with HIV are obedient to taking antiretrovirals (ARVs).
To prevent more children from being infected with HIV/AIDS, Ifada hopes that every PLWHA pregnant woman will participate in the PMTCT program.
It aims to reduce the number of viral load HIV in pregnant women to a very low rate and safe to do pregnancy programs.
“When carrying out a pregnancy program, mothers who are infected with HIV/AIDS must regularly take ARV drugs,” he said.
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