Screening can help prevent mother to child disease transmission
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| RVF is conducting programs to screen pregnant women in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia for hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS, as well as newborns in Georgia for hypothyroidism. |
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Program Highlights:
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| • Goal 1: |
| Protect newborns from acquiring AIDS and Chronic Hepatitis B infection from their mothers through timely, aggressive medical intervention |
| • Goal 2: |
| Prevent permanent mental retardation and growth failure in newborns through early detection of hypothyroidism |
| • The entire cohort of pregnant women – approximately 50,000 women in Georgia, 150,000 women in Azerbaijan, and 19,000 women in the city of Yerevan in Armenia annually - is screened for hepatitis B carriage; |
| • Additionally, pregnant women in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia are screened for HIV/AIDS and all newborns in Georgia are tested for hypothyroidism; |
| • HIV-infected women receive appropriate antiretroviral treatment to interrupt transmission to their newborns; |
| • Infants born to Hepatitis B carriers receive both HBIG (antiglobulin against hepatitis B) and the hepatitis B vaccine within 12 hours of birth; newborns affected by hypothyroidism receive timely treatment financed by the state; |
| • The Foundation has trained health care workers and provides screening kits, definitive testing materials, and HBIG for at-risk infants to health facilities throughout the country. |
| » Hepatitis B |
| » HIV / AIDS |
| » Hypothyroidism |
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