Violet is HIV positive. Her baby girl is not. Thanks to a World Vision program in Zambia that helps reduce the transmission rate of HIV from mothers to their children, moms like Violet are able to give birth to healthy, HIV-negative babies. (VIDEO)

November 2009

By Collins Kaumba, World Vision Zambia, and Rachael Boyer, World Vision U.S.

Editor’s Note: Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day. In honor of this day, World Vision is raising awareness about how preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV is possible — but only with your help. Read Violet’s story, watch a video featuring World Vision’s Princess Zulu, and then see the “ways you can help” section at the bottom of this page to find out how you can help stop the spread of HIV.

Violet Nkandu, 32, is a widow and a mother of six: four girls and two boys. Violet’s husband, who was the father of her first five children, died in 2000.

In the years after her husband died, Violet was often sick and went to the hospital frequently. She didn’t know she was HIV positive until she became severely ill in 2007 and was tested for the virus. She needed to start anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment immediately, but it wouldn’t be an instant fix. It would take time for her immune system to recover.

‘I became a burden’

For a while, Violet had support from her family while she began her ARV treatment. “I chose [to get treatment in] Kitwe where my brother was so he could assist me,” says Violet. “I was in and out of hospital, and because of that I became a burden to my brother, who later gave up and stopped supporting me.”

But Violet still needed care, food, and help with her children while she regained her strength. “I would be dead today if it were not for World Vision’s intervention to help me with food, and to care for me,” she says.

A few surprises

Eventually, Violet’s health improved. She started a small business selling vegetables, which helps her buy food for her children and keeps them in school. World Vision has also continued to support her in various ways, including building a two-room house for her family so she didn’t have to continue struggling to pay rent. In 2008, Violet met a man who promised to marry her. Things looked promising for Violet’s family.

Then she became pregnant. A month after she told her boyfriend that she was carrying his child, he left. She has not heard from him since.

“I was worried when I became pregnant, knowing that I was HIV positive, and the man abandoned me,” says Violet. “I didn’t know what to do, but I shared my burden with World Vision caregivers who encouraged me to go to Zamtan PMTCT [Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission] Clinic.”

Following directions

Half of all children living with HIV die before their second birthday, making it critical to prevent these children from ever getting HIV in the first place.

Midwives at the World Vision-supported clinic explained to Violet that with the right prenatal care, medications, birth procedures, and postnatal care, it is possible to greatly reduce the likelihood that a mother would pass HIV on to her child.

Violet went to all her appointments and carefully followed all the health guidelines the clinic staff members gave her.

“After delivery, I was told the baby was HIV negative, but I didn’t believe them until now [six months later]. She has been tested again and found negative,” says Violet. “The baby has been breastfeeding and I stopped the feeding in September, as advised at the clinic so that the baby is not exposed to the virus.”

Patricia Mubanga, one of the four midwives at the PMTCT clinic, praised Violet for following all the recommended health guidelines. “I’m really impressed with this woman because she is the best example of mothers that adhere to our instructions for the well-being of the children that are born HIV-negative from HIV-positive mothers,” says Patricia. (Read more about procedures followed at the clinic for preventing transmission of HIV from mothers to their children.)

Violet expressed her gratitude to World Vision for assisting her and the children. “Now I have an HIV-free child because of you [World Vision] people. May God bless you for putting up the clinic that has brought honor to us in Zamtan and is saving lives.”