By Ulviya Guliyeva, TBILISI, Georgia. It was the day before Christmas, and Twenty four year old Marine (not her real name) was pregnant three weeks and the happiest woman in the world until she got some shocking news: she tested positively for the HIV Virus, which causes AIDS.
“When I felt pregnant I was so happy that I would have my first child but you know you have to do some test and I wasn’t scared knowing that I’ve protected myself for a long time. Although I was care free but I decided to check up,” she says.
That was a year ago. Today, Marina has a healthy, beautiful three-month-old daughter, who is HIV-free. Because though the disease is serious and quite often deadly, detecting it early in pregnant mothers means that an infected mother can still give birth to a healthy child, health experts say.
When Marine first heard that she had HIV she felt suicidal. “When I heard it from doctor I didn’t want to live. But after doctor’s advice I started taking meds to prevent my baby from getting infected,” she said. “I’m so crazy about her.”
In many countries across the world women are tested for HIV during pregnancy. This is a critical part of early detection to protect unborn children.
“HIV infection can be passed on to a baby during pregnancy, labour and delivery, and breastfeeding. With appropriate treatment and intervention, the chances of a child becoming infected can be reduced from around 25% to less than 2%,” said Ketevan Shermadini, an immunologist of Infectious Diseases, AIDS and Clinical Immunology Research Center (IDACIRC). “It is therefore vital that an HIV infection in a mother is identified during the early stages of pregnancy to allow for an opportunity to reduce the risk of transmission to the baby.”
She also added that for woman, especially in resource-poor areas, pregnancy will be the only time in their young adult lives when they access healthcare services on a regular basis. It therefore presents an excellent opportunity not only to screen for HIV, but also other sexually transmitted diseases that might harm a baby’s health, and also to educate and advise about dangers of the virus.
The number of babies the HIV virus is small in Georgia: only 2.2 percent of the total 2,243 registered cases were transmitted that way, according to AIDS center statistics.
The IDACIRC offers free testing for pregnant women and they guess that this program will prevent the spreading of the HIV virus in future. “We are attracting pregnant women for checking up from time to time, concerning the future of their child” said Dr. Shermadini.
A woman who knows that she or her partner is HIV positive before she
becomes pregnant is better able to plan ahead, women’s health advocates say If she does not want to have a child then she should consider effective contraception. If she decides to become pregnant then early interventions maybe able to help protect her, her partner and her baby. Doctors will be able to advise which interventions are best suited to her situation and whether she should adjust any treatment she is already receiving – said Zulfiyya Mustafayeva Member of Harm Reduction Network of in neighboring Azerbaijan.
But the best prevention, says Marine, is early detection.
“Now I only think of my baby and I value her. She is my princess and I do everything for her. And now I and my fiancé are treated for an illness, he is also HIV+ and we are planning in the future to have a second child,” she said. ”Right now I wish to tell all people that they are not immune to HIV\AIDS and must always use protection. I wish to be an activist fighting for the rights of people with disabilities living with HIV\AIDS.”
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