AFRYDEF to mobilize 1 million signatures in support of a Bill!
On May 17, 2009, AFRYDEF kicked off a campaign aimed at proposing a Bill to be signed into Law for the Imo State Government of Nigeria to restrain all Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) and all Health workers at the Primary Health Centers from attending to pregnant women in the rural communities without conducting HIV/AIDS screening tests on them.
We, in AFRYDEF are determined to sponsor this Bill to its logical conclusion, having been convinced that, when signed into law, it would become an instrument for saving the lives of Imo people who would have contracted the virus through and during child delivery by these traditional birth attendants and health workers.
First, the life of the unborn baby would be saved if her mother, who is found to be HIV + is being transferred to a secondary hospital, where Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission (PMTCT) could be administered unto her to save her baby.
Secondly, the HIV+ mother whose status has been detected early would equally be referred to treatment centers, where she could have access to ARV drugs.
Again, the lives of the TBAs and the health workers, who are not well protected during the child bearing process, will equally be saved since they would become less exposed to the virus.
You can join this campaign by sending us your endorsement or support letter or by signing our online campaign at http://www.change.org/afrydef/
For more information about this campaign, please, send us a mail at info@afrydef.org or afrydef@yahoo.com or call +234 (0) 803 870 2075, +234 (0) 703 349 6417.
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