PREGNANT women in Dakawa village, Mvomero district in Morogoro fear to deliver without knowing their Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status.
The situation has come up following the shortage of HIV test kit for three months.
Ms Leah Yohana (27) a woman of seven -month pregnant said that she has never had tested because of lack of the HIV testing kit.
“Wherever I go I am told to go and test somewhere else so that they can fill the clinical card,” she said.
Another pregnant woman who has not tested is Ms Rehema Mfaume (24), she said that she has gone twice for testing but she has not found the testing tool.
Dakawa Maternity Ward
The Assistant Medical officer of Dakawa Dispensary, Ms Catherine Madaha said that it’s true that they did not have the testing kit for three months but they now have received them.
“It’s very true that we did not have the testing kit for a long time but we have received recently and we were telling pregnant women to go for testing somewhere else but we are not sure if they realy test because most of them they did not have any record for the test,” she said.
She added, “we tried a lot to make follow ups so that to help the mothers from transmitting viruses to their children,” she said.
The village is said to have higher infection of HIV due to the farming activities in the area. Many people gather to farm.
The Dakawa Councilor, Mr Yusuph Makunja said that the area comprise people from different regions like Arusha, Dodoma, Dar es Salaam and Mwanza to farm.
From 2010 to 2012, people who have tested HIV/AIDS are 1,238 and people who were found with the virus were 42.