Activities

The project, launched in 2009, was further expanded in the Kouilou, Niari and Cuvette regions in 2010, by making use of the logistics and network of healthcare facilities already set up by Eni Foundation for the Salissa Mwana project.

Extension of coverage
With the expansion of the project to the 3 regions, volunteer counseling and screening services for pregnant women were set up in 17 primary healthcare centers (10 in Kouilou, including 7 in Pointe Noire, 3 in Niari and 4 in Cuvette) and in 7 neonatal wards in selected local hospitals (3 in Pointe Noire, 2 in Niari and 2 in Cuvette), where both mother and child pairs can be treated.
Overall, almost 13,000 pregnant women received counseling and almost all of them accepted to undergo HIV testing and 492 of them (3.8%) tested positive. At the end of 2010, 518 women had been taken on by the project, a number which also included those women that had been assisted in the pilot phase. Moreover, of the 164 newborns of HIV positive mothers, for whom the treatment protocol was completed, only one tested positive for the virus. This is equivalent to a HIV transmission rate of 0.6%, which is well below the project's goal of 2-3% .

Development of the capacity of the laboratory
The advanced diagnostic laboratory in Pointe Noire, improved and equipped with an instrumentation to measure the HIV viral load in 2009, started carrying out this type of analysis in 2010. This has allowed to treat more effectively mother-child pairs by conducting viral controls of HIV-positive pregnant women and doing bio-molecular diagnosis of newborns.

Training
In 2009 and 2010, 159 training sessions were conducted for 347 healthcare workers, which included obstetricians, gynecologists, pediatricians, delivery room attendants, pediatric nurses and laboratory technicians, and 47 internships were also carried out for personnel from other departments. Moreover, 2 Congolese doctors attended a one month internship at the University of Genoa in Italy on the clinical and laboratory management of HIV infection.

Transfer of skills to the local healthcare personnel
The transfer of skills to the local medical staff for the treatment of pregnant and post-partum HIV-women was completed under the supervision of the University of Genoa in those healthcare facilities in Pointe Noire that have had well functioning equipment and a trained staff since the pilot phase. Overall, the transfer of skills involved 68 doctors and paramedics.