HIV: Free Baseline Investigations Will Reduce Infant Infection – Experts

Chioma Umeha Experts have stressed the need for the Federal Government to restore free baseline evaluations, noting that this will promote effective access to Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for People Living With HIV (PLWH). Some of the experts who spoke were those from the National AIDS/STI Control Programme (NASCAP). They were making presentations at the opening of a two-day communication strategic review workshop by Journalists Alliance for Prevention of Mother to Child transmission of HIV (JAPiN) in Lagos state, recently. According to them, the goals of the initial evaluation are to confirm the diagnosis of HIV infection, obtain appropriate baseline historical and laboratory data, ensure PLWH understanding about HIV infection and its transmission. Others are to initiate care as recommended in HIV primary care guidelines and guidelines for prevention and treatment of HIV-associated opportunistic infections. Research has shown that every HIV-infected pers