I was reading this article and although it has nothing to do with my current position, it reminded me a lot of what I was doing in Ethiopia in 2009. We worked so hard to assess the pediatric HIV services in Addis Ababa that this kind of data does not surprise me at all. I wish that more people were more conscious of the stigma and the consequences that HIV positive status has on the lives of women and children.
 |
But, how awesome would that be - prenatal care, HIV care, and social support, all in ONE PLACE? Magic. Easily done with just a little re-organization of medical systems. The thing is, that kind of all-in-one maternal health and support is not even present in the US. Think of your local community health center - you wait for an hour for your 10 minute meeting with a Nurse Practitioner, who sends you to the infectious disease department to get HIV treatment, and to the separate pre-natal clinic, and to separate social support services organization - all likely to be in different buildings accross town, with their own hour long waits. Why can't it be centralized? Not only women in Africa have issues with transportation access.
I wonder how many children are still being born with HIV in the US due to poor access to services?
Just food for thought.
No comments:
Post a Comment