A woman living with HIV works to prevent mother-to-child transmission in Bolivia

I've only just found the time from my busy schedule to write again about something I've always been concerned about. And the fact that my sister is in Bolivia now doing charity work made me really want to write about the UNICEF article I read on AIDS. A medical doctor friend of mine spoke about the discovery of a cure for Aids and I really hope this happens soon and can be administered to many AIDS patients to help save many lives.

In Bolivia, Maria Isabel, a 23-year old mother with AIDS, has been a volunteer of REDBOL (Red Nacional de Personas que viven con el VIH en Bolivia), a local foundation supported by UNICEF that helps people living with HIV through a series of support groups and other assistance.

For the last 2 years, Maria Isabel has been counselling pregnant women about the importance of taking the HIV test as part of the regular prenatal care package as well as trying to achieve equality for everyone living with HIV/AIDS, especially women and children.

With a son who is HIV-negative, Maria Isabel makes rounds at maternity wards of HIV-positive mothers to emphasize that early treatment within the first few months of a baby's life can dramatically improve the survival rates of children. The majority of the children living with HIV can be saved by timely administration of paediatric anti-retroviral treatment and cotrimoxazole, a low-cost antibiotic that has been shown to have a positive impact on HIV-positive children’s survival.

From Maria Isabel's words to HIV-positive mothers: “You must go on because there is no turning back. One has to learn to accept it and live with HIV/AIDS. It’s not easy, but it can be done –and it must be done for our children.”