New Drug Regimen for PMTCT in India - Launched in Andhra Pradesh

Today (14th Sep 2012) marked an important milestone in HIV care for the pregnant mothers and infants, with the launching of a new drug regimen for prevention of parent to child transmission of HIV initially in two states, one being Andhra Pradesh. The formal launch by National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), took place at Ravindra Bharathi, Hyderabad amid packed audiences and enthusiastic functionaries representing various levels of health care planning and delivery.

• Mother to child transmission (MTCT) accounts for 5.4% of total HIV infections being a transmission mode second only to heterosexual route (87.1%) and more than total infections by IDU and MSM routes (3.1%)
• This new regimen found to be more efficacious than the previous one and helps us to target achieving ZERO HIV +VE NEWBORNS BY 2015.
• The development of this new regimen is in line with the WHO Guidelines for prevention of transmission of HIV from mother to child and infant feeding practices.
• This new regimen christened as MAMATA PLUS rolled out in Andhra Pradesh today and is going to be expanded to the entire country.
• Here is the document released on the occasion for more details of the new intervention.

	Previous	Now
Mother CD4 < 350	3 drug regimen for life long	Triple drug regimen for life long Single dose nevirapine at the onset of labour
Mother CD4 > 350	No drug intervention Regular check ups and nutritional advice No drug intervention till the time of delivery	Triple Drug regimen during pregnancy and delivery and one week after completion of Breast feeding Single dose nevirapine at the onset of labour
HIV +ve mother in labour (unregistered case)	Single dose oral Nevirapine during labour	Single dose oral Nevirapine during labour and start triple drug regimen.
New Born	Nevirapine syrup - Single dose with in 72 hrs	Nevirapine Syrup once daily for 6 weeks
Breast Feeding		Exclusive for 6 months Appropriate complementary feeding with continued breast feeding till 12 months
Testing of Baby for HIV sero positivity		At 6 weeks, 6 months, 12 months and 18 months before we can declare HIV negative

It can be noted that only 2 weeks ago similar programme was launched in Uganda too, following WHO recommendations.

The inauguration was preceded by a Kuchipudi dance balle "Jagruthi (Awakening)" by the Pranavam School of Dance led by Dr.Padmaja Reddy and her students. The message of prevention was harmoniously blended with dance and music, so very beautifully that the awareness building was spontaneous and effortless on the part of the receiver. The strength, our cultural richness brings to health education was emphatically demonstrated by the 20 odd dance troupe. Thanks to APSACS for arranging such a wonderful programme.

Update: The cost of attending to one mother who turns out to be HIV positive, but prevent transmission to the child under this new MAMATA plus regimen turns out to be over Rs. 1 lakh. But worthless compared to the 15 yrs and a lifetime added to the longevity of the mother and child, respectively. An article from the Hindu .