The UNICEF charity ambassador, David Beckham, recently took time out of his hectic schedule to visit South Africa and check on the progress that has been made around the world in the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission.
Beckham visited a clinic in Cape Town where he met pregnant young women and new mums who are living in the shadow of the HIV virus. The UNICEF programme ‘Mothers to Mothers’ is helping to provide the education and support that will help to prevent young women and mothers pass on the virus to their unborn babies. Founder of the programme, Dr. Mitch Besserby, met David and told him about the care and support that the clinic’s patients are receiving.
David Beckham said –
It gives me such hope that in a country like South Africa where over 5 million people are living with HIV, this inspiring work is being done by UNICEF childrens charity and their partners to help prevent the virus passing from pregnant mothers to their newborn children. The solution is cheap and it’s simple and can help save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children each year. Children have a right to be as healthy as possible and I can think of no better thing than ensuring babies are born free from HIV.
If all the women who needed it received treatment to prevent transmission of HIV to their babies, a generation of children free from the virus could be within reach. Now, everyone needs to come together to make sure this happens. I urge everyone to support this work and help save the lives of babies.
A baby is born with HIV somewhere in the world almost every minute of every day. The disease is passed on by their mother during pregnancy, but with simple inexpensive treatment, the mother-to-child transmission of HIV is almost entirely preventable. Thanks to health charity programmes such as ‘Mothers to Mothers’, 73% of those most in need of treatment are receiving it, compared to just 15% in 2004. But more work must be done across Africa to help stop the unneccesary amount of children still being born with HIV.
