CRS finds misconceptions help cause transmission of HIV to children

Published: 2004-06-24

MAKIMA, Kenya (CNS) -- Preventing transmission of AIDS from mothers to their children sometimes is a matter of battling misconceptions, said a Catholic Relief Services official. Shirley Dady, CRS country representative to Kenya, said the agency and its partner, the Diocese of Embu, commissioned a study to find out why, in the villages and on the farms around Makima, 74 of every 1,000 children die before reaching age 5. The study found that no mothers were exclusively breast-feeding their babies until the recommended age of 6 months, Dady told Catholic News Service. She said the staffers thought, "Wow, how are we going to promote this if it's a 0 percent rate" of compliance. Dady said the study found that health care workers as well as mothers were confused about Kenyan Ministry of Health guidelines on the role breast-feeding plays in the transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

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