Malawian pregnant women cry foul

Malawian pregnant women living with HIV want government to consider providing pregnancy test kits in hospitals across the country which remain unavailable despite incessant promises.

Speaking to Malawi24 on Monday, the women emphasized that the non existence of the kits is contributing to further spread of the virus especially through mother to child transmission.

They thus urged the ministry of health to consider providing such equipments soon.

According to them the availability of the same will enable them know if they are pregnant in time thereby they will be following procedures to protect the unborn child from the deadly virus.

“The current state of affairs makes women transmit the virus to their unborn babies because by the time they know they are pregnant, it’s too late to protect the baby from contacting the virus,” said Emily Kaluba.

Most pregnant women who spoke to this paper in Mzimba recently maintained that they do not want their children to born with the virus because they have seen how it feels to be HIV positive thus they do not want their children to succumb to the same.

Malawi24 understands that in some hospitals in Nkhatabay, Mzimba, Likoma and Rumphi among others, they are no pregnancy test kits.

These kits helps health experts to know if a woman is pregnant at an early stage thus relevant for women with HIV who needs to know in good time so as to start the process of protecting the baby in good time.

The medical stoles have not yet procured more of such equipments a thing which even doctors in Mzimba bemoaned.

To them the absence of the same is making them seem as if they do not know their job or they intend to let women transmit the virus to their children.

Head of the Prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) in the district Phylis Baluwa told this publication that despite health workers trying hard to achieve more in preventing the mother to child transmission, their efforts proves futile due to luck of pregnancy test kits.

“Without such equipments our work is very difficult because usually women know they are pregnant very late thus our efforts cannot work,” said Baluwa.

Malawi adopted PMTCT In 2012 as one way of helping to reduce the transmission of HIV from mother to child through the provision of ARTs.