Tendai Franklyn-Brown, Staff Reporter

JAMAICA'S EFFORTS in the treatment administered to pregnant women and children living with AIDS and HIV have been applauded in United Nations Children's Fund's (UNICEF) second stocktaking report 'Children and AIDS'.

Novia Condell, Children and HIV/AIDS specialist, told The Gleaner she endorsed the report and the information contained in it.

"Jamaica has come quite far in terms of paediatric treatment and prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT)."

"We have a situation where in 2002, there was a 25 per cent rate of transmission from infected mothers to children and in 2006, we had a 10 per cent transmission rate," she said.

Through the campaign 'Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS', the global report aims to identify the progress made by countries where the disease is prevalent in a bid to reach a target of 80 per cent coverage for PMTCT by 2010.

Currently, 21 countries, including Jamaica, are expected to achieve this.

Eagerly awaiting the official figures for 2007, Condell believes that the collaborative efforts of the Ministry of Health, UNICEF and other health agencies, have resulted in the significant progress made to reduce PMTCT in Jamaica.

Psychosocial counselling needed

Awareness campaigns and the availability and access to treatment and preventative measures have been recognised as central to the reduction of AIDS transmission.

Condell acknowledged, however, that more needs to be done in terms of issues concerning children infected or affected by HIV, with more emphasis placed on creating access for children to social services, such as psychosocial counselling.

Condell said, "Children orphaned or made vulnerable by AIDS or HIV often have to deal with the stigma and discrimination. This can be devastating, increasing poverty in the home".

She continued, "While we do have good attendance in schools for children affected by HIV, they are more likely to miss school and not do well because their focus is elsewhere," she said.