News / Regional
Mat North records decline in HIV positive pregnant women
27 Sep 2013 at 13:20hrs | Views
MATEBELELAND North province has recorded a 7.4 percent decrease in the number of pregnant women who tested HIV positive in the second quarter this year from 10 percent recorded in the first quarter, despite the increase in the number of pregnant women who got tested.
National Aids Council (NAC) chairperson for Monitoring and evaluation task force, Mrs Sibonisiwe Mugari said during the second quarter of the year, 381 pregnant women tested positive out of a total of 5 121 pregnant women who got tested.
During the first quarter, 501 pregnant woman tested positive out of a total of 5088 recorded in the first quarter.
Zimbabwe is a signatory to the Global Elimination agenda which seeks to keep mothers alive and Mugari said the decline is a positive development as it also means that the number of children likely to be born with HIV will also decrease.
"The cumulative percentage of infants testing sero-positive in the province currently stands at 12 percent."
The provincial HIV positivity rate stands at 11.3% down from 12.7% in the previous quarter.
National Aids Council (NAC) chairperson for Monitoring and evaluation task force, Mrs Sibonisiwe Mugari said during the second quarter of the year, 381 pregnant women tested positive out of a total of 5 121 pregnant women who got tested.
During the first quarter, 501 pregnant woman tested positive out of a total of 5088 recorded in the first quarter.
Zimbabwe is a signatory to the Global Elimination agenda which seeks to keep mothers alive and Mugari said the decline is a positive development as it also means that the number of children likely to be born with HIV will also decrease.
"The cumulative percentage of infants testing sero-positive in the province currently stands at 12 percent."
The provincial HIV positivity rate stands at 11.3% down from 12.7% in the previous quarter.
Source - Byo24News
