Safer Conception at Crosby Clinic
BRIXTON – Crosby Clinic is running a programme at helping HIV positive people conceive HIV negative children.
A programme aimed at assisting couples who are infected or affected by HIV, offers hope to members of the community.
Wits Reproductive Health Institute (WRHI) is a research organisation which specialises in conducting research in the field of HIV and sexual reproductive health. It implements one of its many innovative and exciting programmes called Safer Conception.
Crosby Clinic communication liaison officer, Awalondwe Makandanje said through the programme, it was discovered women find it difficult with pregnancy when they are affected by HIV.
Initially established in 2015 by Dr Natasha Davies, the programme was officially implemented last year and is currently in its expansion phase.
Makandanje said, “We have booked 200 people who are in need of this service and are working with nine other clinics provided by the City of Johannesburg. Our head office is based in Hillbrow, looking at the number of people who came to our clinic, we decided to expand these services to other clinics in various communities.”
Through this programme, the clinic plans to address stigmas about people with HIV and inform people they can conceive a child who is HIV negative.
He hopes working with the clinics will lead to the programme being a permanent service by September.
They didn’t employ any new staff for this programme hence they are using existing staff and resources who will be trained by him.
“We have had cases where some of the clients informed us they only have one child when they were negative. Now that they are positive they are struggling to conceive.
These are the kind of cases where we offer our assistance within the programme. However, we would like to emphasise it is not an infertility programme,” concluded Makandanje.
Details: amakandanje@wrhi.ac.za
