The Kourtis article seemed to offer a glimmer of hope amidst the overwhelming and grave scope of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It is encouraging to know that mother-to-child transmission is largely preventable (with the right resources, of course). It seems to me that this particular area of HIV prevention has potential to combat some of the cultural barriers that others have brought up in their blog posts (denial, apathy, etc.). For example, it's one thing for people not to treat themselves because they figure they're going to die anyway, but I would think that people would have a different attitude concerning children. Perhaps mothers who know that their adherence to drug regimens affects their children would be more likely to seek out and follow through with treatment. This is all speculation of course, as I do not have much understanding of the many cultures we refer to. I think we should be careful not to make too many assumptions about realities and cultures that we have not experienced.
In class last week and in some of our blog posts, culture always seems to be thought of as an obstacle. I'm wondering, is there a way to use cultural practices and beliefs as allies/tools in combating HIV/AIDS? Does anyone have any examples of culture actually helping to fight the epidemic? I'd be very interested to know!
As I was reading about all the treatments of mothers and children affected by HIV, I was wondering about how the drugs (which Dr. Thairu mentioned are quite strong) affect the development of the child. Are there side effects? I was amazed that infants are able to avoid infection even when the mother started the drug regimen late in her pregnancy (or even in labor) - paradoxically their unformed immune system seems to actually protect them! I'm also curious about why infection rates are so different between "emergency" and planned C-sections. Perhaps it has to do with physician preparation, or the health/drug regimen of the mother?
That post had a lot of questions... please respond with any thoughts/answers if you have them!
Rachel Kelley
Blog Post 2: 9/30
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Rachel - I was also very surprised by the fact that there is a gap between viral entry and viral infection in infants - it's interesting how our bodies develop and how HIV interacts correspondingly.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of your response about mothers caring for their children - I definitely it is true that they'd want to protect their children. However, I also think it is difficult for mothers to take all the steps necessary to prevent MTCT. As I said in my post, when I was in Tanzania, I met two women who both knew the precautionary steps, but didn't actually implement them. I'm not actually sure why this is, but I think it had to do with both stigma and a lack of money/time. One of the things I'm curious about is how we (a global 'we') can ensure that pregnant women have all the resources they need so they can ensure that their children don't contract HIV (sorry, long-winded).