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“Amazing” HIV Support Group

Lucy Auma was filled with dread when she learned that she was HIV positive. Not only would her infection cut her life short, but it would likely be passed on to her unborn child. As news about her diagnosis spread through her Kenyan village, she became an outcast, with no one to share her fears with.

One day, as she waited for a checkup at a CDC-funded clinical research center in the New Nyanza Province, she overheard several women openly discussing their experiences with stigma and discrimination. She was so moved by what she heard that she joined in the discussion. Hungry for each others’ support, the women soon formed the “Amazing Support Group.” Twice a month, they assemble at the clinical research center to talk about their problems, listen to health talks, and receive counseling from other people who have been through similar experiences.

“We share so much, and we have become like sisters,” says Lucy. “It is good to know that it’s not only me who is suffering.”

Lucy’s good fortune didn’t end there. She and other women in her group were part of the Kisumu Breastfeeding Study that started in 2003. The study investigated the effectiveness of giving antiretroviral drugs to women during pregnancy and during the first months of breastfeeding to reduce HIV infection in infants. The study was carried out by CDC, the Kenya Ministry of Health, and the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

In 2008, analysis of the breastfeeding study showed remarkable results: treating HIV-infected mothers with antiretroviral drugs from 34 weeks of pregnancy to six months after delivery reduced mother-to-child transmission to only 6% after one year. The historical transmission rate in women not treated with antiretroviral drugs has been 30%–40%.

Now, four years later, Lucy is the proud mother of a healthy boy who is HIV negative. To date, more than 400 women have benefited from the “Amazing Support Group.” “We called ourselves amazing,” Lucy says, “because it is amazing that a HIV-positive mother can give birth to a HIV-negative child.”

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