Uniting for better global health: Born to be Healthy joins MMI’s research meeting in Brescia

Yesterday, the Born to be Healthy Team joined colleagues and stakeholders to discuss key achievements in the project and reflections from key research in Brescia, Italy.

The event, organised by the staff of Medicus Mundi Italia, coordinators of the project,

brought together a diverse group of professionals, including infectious diseases specialists, biologists, researchers, as well as the general public. Among the attendees were the Rector of the Univeristy of Brescia, Prof. Francesco Castelli, and four representatives from the Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione e lo Sviluppo (AICS), funder of the project.

The Born to be Healthy project aimed at contributing to improved access and quality of the Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV programme in Nairobi County, enabling more HIV-positive women to receive antiretroviral therapy during pregnancy, labour and breastfeeding. In parallel, the goal was to reduce the number of children with new HIV infection due to transmission from mother to child. The results of this operational explanatory study offer a first understanding of the adherence to the Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) algorithm in the target health facilities of Nairobi County supported by the Born to be Healthy project.

The meeting, titled “Salute Generale - Storie che uniscono mondi - Il lavoro di MMI tra ricerca e comunità” (Global Health – stories that unite the world – the work of MMI between research and community), was opened with an insightful presentation from the Director of the University of Brescia and the president of Medicus Mundi Italia regarding the role of global health and community medicine worldwide, in particular in low-income countries.

Later in the event, ID-CARE researcher Fabiana Arieti and Medicus Mundi coordinator Sandra Foletti provided an in-depth presentation of the project results, including the result of the operational study conducted by the ID-CARE team. This study described the journey of 47 children within the EID algorithm and identified a number of challenges that can be considered for future implementation strategies to improve the quality of the PMTCT and the PMTCT-related services in Nairobi, including the mentor-mother programme.

Find out more about the project here.