Scars Still Show

Sunday August 12, 2007

Locking A Door

But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. -- Luke 12:39

Once the house has been broken into there's not much to do but clean up the mess. The damage is done; you'll probably never get your television or your grandmother's silver back. It's enough to make you wish you'd locked your door.

There are many things for which cure is difficult and prevention is easy. Some diseases are like that: incurable, but highly preventable. Thinking ahead can be a matter of life and death.

In Zambia, Episcopal Relief and Development has partnered with the Zambian Anglican Council and the M.A.C. AIDS Fund to create a pilot program aimed at helping pregnant women protect their unborn children from infection with HIV/AIDS through Preventing Mother To Child Transmission (PMTCT). Many Zambian mothers are unsure of their HIV status, and don't know about the mechanisms by which the HIV virus is transmitted, resulting in a woeful 40 percent infection rate among Zambian babies born to HIV-infected mothers. And here is both challenge and hope: although a mother will be HIV positive until the end of her days, it is still possible to prevent her child from infection during pregnancy, labor, childbirth and breastfeeding through the proper use of medication at each of these stages. And who is better able to teach and encourage her than another expectant mother?

Recruiting other pregnant women as the teachers, ERD is educating mothers and their partners on key preventative mother-to-child transmission methods, mobilizing pregnant woman to gain access to information about PMTCT, and providing voluntary counseling and testing. PMTCT also aims to increase awareness and knowledge of sexual practices among women of childbearing age, prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS to children, and encourage participation in the health centers’ post-natal services.

A 40 percent mother-to-child transmission rate is a sad story indeed. But ERD and its partners are convinced that the rate can fall to 0 percent, enabling Zambian mothers to give their children a gift they did not themselves receive: life free of HIV related illness.

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To learn more about ERD's work, or to make a donation, visit http://www.er-d.org/ or telephone 1--800-334-7626,ext 5129.