BY SAM BANDA JNR IN ROME, ITALY

Questions were raised during a press briefing ahead of the 6th International Aids Society(IAS 2011) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention which kicked off on Sunday in Rome as to why men were not involved in the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV(PMTCT).

This is a problem in several countries on this programme including Malawi, where men have not been involved in PMCT and delegates were concerned saying the absence of men was derailing the programmes’ success.

“The question is where are the men in PMCT? Women do not get the virus on their own and so men surely have to be involved,” said one delegate.

In response, Vice president of Research Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation, Laura Guay who made a presentation on Eliminating Pediatric HIV/Aids, and caring for Children with HIV, admitted it was a problem to get men in the PMCT programme.

“It’s very difficult to get a man into the antenatal to discuss this programme which is equally important and this is why we are moving at a slow pace. It’s a problem for many countries including Africa but we are working on how to do it,” said Guay.

According to her, there are key changes and guidelines in making the PMCTC asuccess.

A counsellor at Dream Health Centre in Malawi, Misonzi Mwase said recently that they encourage pregnant women to go for counselling and testing.

She however, noted that despite having more pregnant women testing, men do not come with them. Masonzi is also one of the women who is HIV positive.

“ I tested in 2005 and was found positive but through PMCTC, my child who is five years old was born negative. However, there is a challenge in that men do not show up in this cause,” she said.

Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation is a global leader in the fight against pediatric HIV/Aids, working in 17 countries around the world including Malawi to prevent and treat HIV infection in children, women and families.

Glaser is said to have acquired HIV through a blood transfusion and unknowingly passed the virus on to her daughter, Ariel, and her son, Jake. It is from here that this foundation was born.

The Foundation has provided nearly 10 million women with services to prevent transmission of HIV from mothers to babies, tested more than 8.5 million women for HIV and enrolled more than one million individuals into care and support programmes, including more than 82,000 children under the age of 15.