Clinton speaks out on AIDS, Kroo Bay clinic does its bit

Former US President Bill Clinton spoke at a world AIDS conference in Mexico yesterday, calling for an increase in funding to keep down the cost of drugs for people with HIV.

The Kroo Bay clinic does its bit

The clinic started testing for HIV, counselling and running a treatment programme for pregnant women in February. It's free and the main aim is to prevent tramsmission from mother to child.

Nurse and councillor, Aminatta explains, 'everyone knows about Aids and HIV from the radio but it's not discussed openly and people are afraid to do the test.

We go to all the community meetings and tell people about HIV. We tell them they can come to the clinic, but so far we've only tested pregnant women.

When a pregnant womens comes in for her antenatal treatment we try to convince them to be tested but it's voluntary.

If we find out early, we have a better chance of protecting the baby from transmission.

At 28 weeks we can then start the mother on ZDV, an anti-retroviral drug. After delivery we treat the baby and keep the mother on ZDV and Septrin, a medicine that helps prevent infections.

So far we have tested 129 women and found five positive.'