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Zambia’s
Luapula Province Sees Increase in Male Involvement in PMTCT
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Top: Christopher Mwansa offers counseling on prevention
of mother-to-child transmission of HIV virus to expectant parents
Daniel and Mirriam Chipeleka, at Chembe Rural Health Center in
Luapula Province, Zambia, on October 18, 2006 (PHOTO: Catherine
Mwale/ZPCT)
Bottom: Men and women gather at Chembe Rural Health
Clinic on October 18, 2006, to hear prevention messages on mother-to-child
transmission of HIV virus. (PHOTO: Catherine Mwale/ZPCT)
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An increasing number of men are proving
that they can be true partners in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Zambia,
where the HIV epidemic continues to disproportionately devastate women
and girls. In Luapula Province, husbands and boyfriends have started to
travel with their pregnant partners to antenatal clinic visits, encouraging
their wives to get health checkups before giving birth.
When Daniel Chipeleka, 30, learned that his wife Miriam was pregnant with
their fifth child, he went with her to Chembe Rural Health Center, located
just north of Mansa town on the Congolese border.
In 2005, Daniel became a believer in proactively taking care of his own
health and his family’s health after becoming a participant in the
Safe Motherhood Action Group, a project initiated by a U.S. President’s
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) partner, the Health Communication
Partnership (HCP). As a participant of this group, Daniel learned about
his important role in making sure that his wife delivered a healthy baby.
Daniel got tested for HIV with his wife and learned more about preventing
the transmission of the deadly virus from mother to child. He said, “Coming
to the health facility with my wife will help us know of our HIV status,
and thereafter plan our future together.”
Through this program, nearly 70 women are tested and counseled at the
antenatal care clinic each month, and 75% of the clients who attend the
clinic at the health center come with their husbands.
The timing could not have been better for Daniel and Miriam to be active
in the Safe Motherhood Action Group: That same year another PEPFAR-supported
project, the Zambia Prevention, Care and Treatment Partnership (ZPCT),
started providing PMTCT and HIV testing at the Chembe Rural Health Center.
Before ZPCT’s project began, Chembe had no such services.
Now an active Adherence Support Worker, Daniel reflects, “When I
started taking the drugs my strength increased, which allowed me to do
some work at home, in the community, and at the health clinic.”
Daniel beams with pride when he sees clients he has counseled at Mahatma
Gandhi Health Center in Kabwe who are careful about taking their ARVs
every day, adhering to their essential drug treatment and living healthier
lives. Daniel is one of the 172 Adherence Support Workers who continue
to reach over 8,000 clients, helping to ensure the health and livelihood
of his community.
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