Women Helping Women Deal with HIV
November 30, 2012
Mothers2Mothers has 600 clinics in seven African countries. Credit: M2M
Young, pregnant and HIV positive. It’s a situation many women in sub-Saharan Africa found themselves in during the course of the AIDS epidemic. But since 2001, a program called Mentor Mothers has helped about one million women not only survive, but thrive.
“Mothers2Mothers came about because we recognized there was an enormous gap in services in healthcare in the developing world, particularly in Africa – and particularly around pregnant women and birth,” said Robin Smalley, co-founder and international director.
Too often, she says, a time of joy became a time of dread.
“A young woman would come in. She’d come in for her first pregnancy test. In Africa, that tends to be around five months. At that time she’s offered her first HIV test. She’s like young mothers everywhere. She’s excited. She’s full of joy. She never anticipates anything going wrong. So when that test comes back positive she thinks it’s a death sentence for herself and for her baby. And there’s nobody available to tell her that there is medical intervention available to help her prevent transmission to her child. And so she goes home. She never seeks medical care again because of the terrible stigmas in the community,” she said.
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