Task-shifting, new technology crucial to ending mother-to-child
transmission NAIROBI: (PlusNews) - Unconventional health workers
and new technologies will be a vital part of the ongoing effort
to "virtually eliminate" mother-to-child transmission of HIV,
says Michél Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS. "We cannot
wait for the highest cadre of health professionals to be trained
before expanding our capacity to prevent mother-to-child
transmission," he told a press conference in the Kenyan capital,
Nairobi. "We have to tap into non-conventional capacity to help
expand access to health services." An ongoing study into the
effectiveness of mobile phone technology in the health
management of people receiving ARV medication in Kenya has found
that the use of SMS communication between patients and health
service providers was both acceptable and significantly cheaper
than paying for transport to travel to clinics for physical
visits. Sidibé and Jeffrey Sachs, special adviser to UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on t