How the funds are used by UNICEF

One of the many areas that funds are used, through the money raised from such events as the Royal Parks Half Marathon, go towards initiatives such as the Mother Baby Packs which are crucial in the efforts to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS.

Mothers and babies, in Preventing Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) programmes, have to return to clinics a number of times over several months to get the drugs they need. But many impoverished mothers outside of cities cannot afford repeated clinic trips by taxi – a common form of long-distance transportation in sub-Saharan Africa, the heart of the epidemic. Where possible, some pregnant women make the journey on foot.

Mothers are not alone in facing challenges to comprehensive treatment. National healthcare systems may have difficulty tracking the progress of PMTCT patients, contacting them about upcoming appointments and test results, or maintaining pharmaceutical stocks in clinics.

This case study illustrates just one of the many reasons why the Mother-Baby Pack is so vital. In this case we see women who must travel long distances to clinics, and we discover that in some rural areas, care may be scarce or nonexistent. Here, pregnant woman are unable to reach a distant clinic, except by walking. The Mother Baby Pack, in this case, provided the complete course of PMTCT with just one visit.

Princess Nthatisisi

“We live in a mountainous country, we have got no roads. We have got plateaus, we have got rivers, but no road. I went to the clinic when I was five months pregnant with my youngest child. Everyone goes to the clinic when they are pregnant, that is why I went. But it was hard for me because it is so far. It was hard for me to walk because I was pregnant and became tired

Ntsiuoa Ralefifi travels to the hospital in Mafeteng with her daughter, Nthatisi Nkaota. The distance from her home in Harom Hapi is too far to walk so she takes a taxi to the hospital where she will attend a support group for HIV positive mothers. Ntsiuoa found out her HIV positive status when she was pregnant with Nthatisi - her first child. Her antenatal clinic offered prevention of mother-to-child transmission services such as advice and support on issues like medication and safe breastfeeding. This service also helped to ensure her baby received a dose of preventative anti-retroviral (ARV) medicine within eight hours of birth. Her baby, Nthatisi was born free from HIV thanks to these services.

“Today we got up early to walk to the hospital at Mohales’ Hoek. It is so far. We have to cross one river, climb the mountain and the plateaus, walk and walk. We have to go on a long journey until we reach the hospital. I walk, I walk, I walk until I reach the road. It takes me two hours to get to the road because I walk on foot. There are no cars, no taxis to take us there. After reaching the small road, after this walk, we get a taxi for one hour to get to the hospital in Mohale’s Hoek.”
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The Mother-Baby Pack overcomes those obstacles in several ways. In just one visit with a healthcare worker, early in pregnancy, mothers get all the drugs they and their babies need for complete PMTCT treatment. The mothers track their own progress. And because they have a full course of drugs from the start, shortages of drug stocks are no longer a problem.

This is why your fundraising and money raised towards the UNITE campaign will benefit women and children all over the word in the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV AIDS.

If you wish to see other case studies and stories as to why the mother Baby pack is so vital: please visit click here