Tulungagung, East Java (ANTARA) – The AIDS Commission (KPA) of Tulungagung Regency, East Java said 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. 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.
Read also: HIV/AIDS sufferers in Tulungagung continues to grow
Read also: 21 students who had sex with MSM in Tulungagung were positive for HIV
“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.
The actual number, continued Ifada, could be more than the data collected by KPA. This is because many cases of HIV/AIDS in children have not been reported to the 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).
Read also: 360 new PLWHA found in Tulungagung during 2019
Read also: In Tulungagung, Eight Children Positive for HIV/AIDS
To suppress so that more children are not infected with HIV/AIDS, his party expects every PLWHA pregnant women to 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.
Reporter: Destyan H. Sujarwoko
Editor: Endang Sukarelawati
COPYRIGHT © ANTARA 2022
–
