Turkana County Health Chief Officer Dr. Malcom Lochodo has urged women to visit health facilities to reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission.

He said the rate of mother-to-child transmission in the county currently stands at 11 per cent way above the national average of 9.7 per cent.

Speaking at a Technical Working Group meeting on the elimination of mother-to-child transmission at Lokichar, Lochodo said that the County’s Health sector had sufficient infrastructure for providing a full range of maternal health services including HIV screening during pregnancy and handling of HIV-exposed infants.

Samuel Pulkol, the County AIDS and STI coordinator, also encouraged hospital visits, saying it would also help prevent the transmission of syphilis and Hepatitis B. Pulkol reiterated the need for consistency in the supply of Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) to facilitate timely testing of HIV-exposed infants and initiate corrective measures where necessary.