When we began thinking about Mother’s Day and our plans to highlight how moms across the world just want what is best for our children, former First Lady Laura Bush was the first person we thought of. Who better to help us tell the story than a daughter and a mom who has spent much of the last decade promoting the well-being of mothers and children — families — around the world?
“You are now getting married for the second time,” said Dr. Mohamed Osmani, an HIV/AIDS specialist at Mbagathi District Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya to his patient, Harriet. “First, you married your husband. Now you are marrying your ARVs. Are you ready to make that commitment?”
Harriet nods. “For how long?” the doctor asks.
“For the rest of my life,” she responds.
Four weeks ago, Harriet found out she was pregnant with her first baby –- and that she is HIV positive. She was not surprised, she says. She was shocked. She was also concerned for her husband who tested negative. She is worried she may have infected him. She is frightened for their child. She’s also nervous since this is the first day of this “second marriage” and she has just been told what to expect. Nausea. Yellow eyes. Skin rash. Perhaps some fever.
She’s 24 years old and traveled two hours in an overcrowded matatu for her appointment. Her husband found the hospital for her after inquiring with everyone he knew how he could help his wife get treated with ARVs funded through PEPFAR and the Global Fund.
The doctor examines her and feels her baby moving, lets her listen to its heartbeat. For the first time she smiles.
Victoria and her mom Elizabeth are regular visitors to the Mbagathi District Hospital. At 18 months, Victoria is cheerful, plump and squirming in her mom’s lap. Her mom Elizabeth is HIV-positive, but thanks to treatment during her pregnancy, Victoria is not.
Tomorrow, the BBC will be at the Langata Health Center in Nairobi to do a story on the new pneumococcal vaccine now being given here, although the official vaccine launch is not until Valentine’s Day. ONE photographer Morgana Wingard and I are there today, so we fully intend to take credit for scooping the BBC.
Babies at Langata Health Facility in Nairobi receive the pneumococcal vaccine
Here’s why this new vaccine is so important: In the developing world, pneumonia kills in the neighborhood of 1.4 million kids every year. Pneumococcal, the deadliest strain of that illness (and a major cause of what we might call “regular” pneumonia), kills 800,000. Call me crazy, but this new vaccine to prevent pneumococcal is a Really. Big. Deal.
When we all arrived in Kisumu, Kenya this morning, none of us had a real handle on how full -– and fulfilling — our day would be. Nor did we have any idea how much we would learn.
Alex Vogel, one of my fellow travelers, has described the basics of the programs in his blog post today. I agree when he says that program descriptions are great, but it is seeing their reality that is most important.
I also was able to participate in a home HIV-testing visit — although, to a family in a village of 62 homes. Happily, both parents were negative, but all three young children had hacking coughs and needed to be taken to the clinic, an hour’s walk away. The CDC community health worker will follow up with them to ensure they get there.
When I met Vida just three weeks ago, she was shy but so happy to be among her friends at the Tema clinic -– especially to show everyone her report card!
Dr. Patricia, who is one of the most amazing women I have ever met, told us she was very worried about Vida’s deteriorating condition, as evidenced by increased mottling of the skin on her forehead. Because her dad’s job requires him to travel all across Ghana, Vida did not always have consistency in her medication and it was literally killing her.
At ONE, we are all saddened by Vida’s death. I worry, too, about Vida’s dad, a good man. He seemed gentle and oh-so-proud of his daughter. I can’t imagine how upside-down his world is without his baby girl, but I will keep him in my prayers. And, I’ll remember that when we reluctantly said goodbye at the Tema Clinic, Vida, still shy, blessed me with a hug. I’m glad I got to meet her.
When people ask you why it’s important to care about arcane sorts of things like the Global Fund, tell them about Vida. Show them her smile. And then make them join the fight to stop, once and for all, mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
We all say we wish we could do more for people like Vida. Well, we can.
Get mad. Get focused. Get active. There is no reason in the world why we can’t make sure that by 2015, no baby is born with HIV.
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