New, inexpensive pouch could reduce mother-to-infant HIV infection
May 14th, 2010 - 12:22 pm ICT by ANIWashington, May 14 (ANI): Duke University biomedical engineers have developed an inexpensive and easy-to-use system that allows mothers to give their newborns a potentially life-saving dose of an anti-HIV medication shortly after birth.
This is especially important since such drugs can only be found in clinics or hospitals, which can be days away from an expectant mother.
In order to be effective, the drug, known as Nevirapine, must be given to the newborn within days of birth. The challenge to date has been reaching distant mothers who give birth at home. Since most mothers are not up to traveling that soon after delivery to get medication, the biomedical engineers developed a way of providing the medication in a simple manner and with a long shelf-life, pouches made of foil and plastic that can hold a single dose of Nevirapine.
“In Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 90 percent of 430,000 new cases of AIDS in 2008 were attributable to mother-to-child transmission,” said Carolina Gamache, program coordinator in senior researcher Robert Malkin’s Developing World Healthcare Technology Laboratory at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering. “A single dose of Nevirapine right after birth has been shown to be effective in protecting the baby from the virus, but it has been difficult for many reasons to make this option available to women who give birth at home.”
Gamache presented the results of the Duke research in London at the Appropriate Healthcare Technologies for Developing Countries conference, which is sponsored by WHO and the Institute of Engineering and Technology. (ANI)
- Packaged drug reduces mother-to-infant HIV infection - May 17, 2010
- HIV drug given to protect foetus should be avoided after childbirth for 1yr - Feb 26, 2010
- New HIV/AIDS study could turn treatment 'on its head' - Mar 04, 2011
- 6-month drug regimen 'reduces HIV risk for breastfeeding infants' - Mar 03, 2011
- New nano-scale drug delivery system for chemotherapy - Nov 02, 2009
- Now, detect esophageal cancer with light - Jan 05, 2011
- HAART may help reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission - Aug 02, 2009
- Mother-to-child HIV transmission on decline in US, but more can be done - Jul 23, 2010
- GE Healthcare to distribute infant warmers in rural India (With Image) - Dec 17, 2010
- New device to detect lung pathogens causing pneumonia - Feb 19, 2011
- Vitamin A makes breastfeeding with HIV more risky: Study - Aug 27, 2010
- Pregnancy stress can affect baby's iron status: Study - Apr 30, 2012
- Daily antiretroviral therapy may prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission - Jul 23, 2009
- Pregnant women living near highways likelier to give birth prematurely - Apr 04, 2011
- Traces of HIV drug in mother's milk risks newborn - Aug 06, 2008
Tags: biomedical engineers, birth at home, child transmission, days of birth, developing world, duke research, duke university, gamache, healthcare technologies, healthcare technology, hiv infection, hiv medication, nevirapine, newborns, pratt school, program coordinator, robert malkin, technology laboratory, world health organization, world healthcare