The m2m National Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) Helpline has opened.

Dial 0800 MOTHERS (0800 668 4377) to speak to a m2m PMTCT Phone Counsellor or to receive recorded HIV/AIDS maternal health information.

Operating hours are between
16:00 - 22:00 Monday to Friday

International callers wishing to access the helpline can call +27 21 441 1017. Normal call rates will apply.

South Africa’s first ever National PMTCT (Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission) Helpline is now up and running, made possible by an exciting initiative between South Africa’s second most watched television program Soul City and mothers2mothers, an education and psychosocial support organization for HIV-positive women.

It's medically quite simple to prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to their babies, prevention has become as simple as a single dose of medicine for the mother and her child. Pediatric AIDS has been virtually eliminated in developed countries, and yet more children are born with HIV in an African clinic in a month than in the US, Canada and England combined in a year!
 
Why is this? Lack of knowledge – people simply don’t know it's available, or that it is effective. They believe that if they test HIV-positive, it's a death sentence for themselves and their babies. Fear is also a key factor, which comes from lack of support and education: Women are so afraid of the implications of revealing their HIV status that they ultimately live with risk and denial rather than take the few simple steps that could protect their babies' health.

m2m recruits HIV-positive pregnant women and trains them on aspects of PMTCT, and they “graduate” to become Mentor Mothers for other HIV-positive pregnant women. Mentors provide program participants with knowledge on medicine, nutrition, best infant feeding practices (breastfeeding vs. formula-feeding) and coping skills to combat stigma and discrimination. Mentors are an integral component of the healthcare team, and thus, they are remunerated for their services.

Reaching well over 16 million South Africans, as well as airing in many parts of southern Africa, including Botswana, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi and Swaziland, Soul City’s format is “edutainment:” providing important health and social content within the context of a compelling prime-time soap opera.

Soul City offered the perfect medium to further disseminate information about PMTCT to a much larger audience through their storyline, where one of their lead characters, Connie, an openly HIV-positive woman played by an openly HIV-positive actress, joined m2m as a Site Coordinator.

At the end of the televised series, Soul City aired m2m's PMTCT Helpline (0800-MOTHERS). And unlike typical AIDS hotlines, the helpline is manned by our own m2m Mentor Mothers, women who themselves are HIV-positive, have been through the PMTCT process and had healthy HIV negative babies.

HIV-positive women from the townships, who once thought their lives were over after being diagnosed with HIV, are now our front-line staff in a multi-media, hi-tech effort to reach other women like themselves.

Click here for pictures of the launch party