DUSHANBE, July 15, 2010, Asia-Plus — In Tajikistan, 16 HIV positive mothers have given birth to healthy uninfected babies, the Republic AIDS Center director Murodali Rouziyev said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, the babies have been born over the past two-three years. “86 pregnant HIV positive women are currently under care of physicians,” said Rouziyev, “All of them are undergoing antiretroviral therapy (ART)”
“Babies who are not infected lose their antibodies by the time they are around 18 months old. So it is only after a baby is 18 months old that the HIV antibody test will give an accurate result; all these patients are under control of the Center,” he stressed.
Rouziyev added that of the overall number of officially registered HIV sufferers (2,204) in Tajikistan, 41 are children under the age of 14, and 15 of them are receiving ART. “All these children receive monthly allowance of 230 somoni each,” the director said.
According to him, 195 new cases of HIV infections have been registered in the country since the beginning of this year. Over the report period, some 110,000 people, including 77,500 women, have taken an HIV test.
The Republican AIDS Center head also noted that 173 TB/HIV cases have been registered in Tajikistan to this day.
