The "Organization of African First Ladies Against AIDS" (OAFLA)'s 'Save the Unborn Child First Ladies Campaign' has finally been launched.

The campaign has been launched in all the 50 OAFLA African members countries.

This campaign is aimed at preventing the unborn child from the Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) of the HIV/AIDS.

Zambia's First Lady Maureen Mwanawasa, who is OAFLA president, launched the campaign in Kitwe on Tuesday, January 9 with an emphasis "to attack the HIV/AIDS with the same viciousness with which it is attacking the very core of society."

She called for the intensifying of PMTCT and improving women's access to vital information on HIV/AIDS.

Mother-to-Child Transmission (MTCT) is the largest source of HIV/AIDS infection in children.

The United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS) estimate states that 90 per cent of children born from HIV-positive mothers acquire the virus before birth, during birth or through breast-feeding while current studies show that in the absence of any interventions, the infection rate from the mother to the baby can be as high as 40 per cent.

In Zambia, for example, of the 500,000 children born annually, it is likely that with almost 20 per cent infection rate among pregnant women, the deadly HIV/AIDS virus could infect at least 100 babies born per day.

With the 40 per cent transmission rate to babies, five to 10 per cent of them will acquire the virus during pregnancy, 10 to 20 per cent during labour and another five to 10 per cent through breast-feeding.

This is why the African First Ladies under Mrs Mwanawasa's leadership decided to advocate for the formulation and implementation of activities that would expand PMTCT programmes throughout the African continent.

"We must remember that the best way to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS is to stop the transmission from mothers to children. And by ensuring that mothers have timely access to medicines that prevent the transmission of the HIV/AIDS, we will be saving the unborn child," Mrs Mwanawasa said.

She commended African governments for their commitment towards PMTCT through the 2001 Abuja Declarations, whose aim was to reduce the proportion of infants infected with HIV by 50 per cent by 2010.

The declaration is also aimed at ensuring 80 per cent pregnant women accessing antenatal care have information, counseling and other HIV prevention services available to them.

"In Zambia, for example, because of Government's commitment towards the PMTCT programme, we have seen in the past four years a scale-up in the PMTCT sites from three to 300.

"We have also seen the introduction of a new PMTCT combination drug regime, Nedovidine and Nevirapine, which will reduce resistance trends in children," Mrs Mwanawasa said.

She said the greatest challenge that had hampered effective PMTCT activities was lack of involvement of male partners in the programme.

Mrs Mwanawasa said it was time people became proactive about their own health and that of their children and going beyond their families to spread the information to their neighbours at home, at church, in the market, on the bus and everywhere.

She urged Zambians to be watchdogs and messengers of their own communities about the good news that a pregnant woman with HIV/AIDS could still be given antiretroviral treatment (ART) to protect her own health and to further reduce the risk of MTCT.

Mrs Mwanawasa said traditional birth attendants needed to be empowered with the knowledge on how to carry out hygienic deliveries and how to ensure safer delivery for HIV positive women, as well as how to administer medication to new-born babies and the mother.

She said Zambia had a great human resource with a spirit of voluntarism and, as such, there was need to tap into the community's resource to carry out effective PMTCT programmes.

In addition to the 'Save the Unborn Child First Ladies Campaign', OAFLA would be involved in other activities that affect African women such as promoting the use of microbicides and advocate for the production of a more user-friendly female condom.

"As a future prospect we are advocating for the provision of free female condoms as is now the case with male condoms. We will advocate for the expansion of HIV/AIDS testing since 90 per cent of people living with HIV/AIDS are unaware that they carry the virus. We will also advocate for increased access to free ARVs.

During the same launch, Zambia National AIDS Network (ZNAN) executive director Elizabeth Mataka said her organisation was ready to stand by the First Lady to ensure the campaign was a success in Zambia.

Ms Mataka said the critical component of PMTCT was primary prevention of the HIV/AIDS.

She said there was need to empower women economically and that there was need to ensure prevention did not suffer by striking a health balance between men and women.

Ms Mataka described the launch as an important step in strengthening an important national response to HIV/AIDS.

She urged HIV positive women to ensure they accessed comprehensive information, counseling and family planning services so as to make informed decisions about their future reproductive lives.

"There is need to strengthen the involvement of men in prevention services as recipients of information so that women and men can both make informed decisions regarding such important issues in their lives," she said.

Ms Mataka said the other important component of PMTCT was not to stop at providing care only to babies but also to women after delivery.

It should be noted that access to care and support for mothers also enhanced community support for programmes to prevent MTCT and increase the uptake of article interventions such as VCT.

Mrs Mwanawasa had earlier donated assorted medicines, blankets, a deep freezer, a fridge and a stove to Buchi clinic maternity wing before the launch and went on to donate a wheelchair and an assortment of drugs to Kitwe Central Hospital where she also handed over the 50 X 25kg bags of mealie meal and mattresses donated by Jama Milling Company director John Coutlis.