MSF arrived in this country at the end of 2007 and the last five years we've tried to
decentralize care from the main health facilities to the primary healthcare facilities, so that
the people can have better access to the most needed antiretroviral treatment.
Now we can say ... we can dream of moving on to the next step of controlling the epidemic.
We are in the mature level of this intervention and in this level we can try to curb the epidemic.
The next step of course is the new approach, the new innovative approach from the international
community, which is the Treatment as Prevention approach.
First of all, we will start with pregnant women.
In 2013, it's almost unforgivable to allow transmission of the virus from the mother
to the child.
It is essential to stop ... 100% to stop ... these transmissions.
The next step, after few months, we want all HIV-positive adults of Nhlangano area to have
access to antiretroviral treatment without any check, without any CD4 count or any other
thing.
We only need proper monitoring.
We have more and more evidence from the international community that by starting HIV treatment earlier
... as early as possible ... You have much better results for the life of the patient,
giving him stronger resilience against the different infections he can have during his
life course.
I can say that we have a very good relation with the Ministry of Health.
We work inside the Ministry of Health's facility.
We work inside the health system.
This is an essential part in our work with HIV/AIDS because we need to care about the
continuity of our action.
So moving forward to PMTCT Option B+ is very critical and crucial for the country.
It's going to help the children, allow the babies to be born HIV-free, and also help
the mothers to survive.
I think the challenge now, since it's new, is how the Swazi people will respond to this
initiative and whether it will be acceptable to the Swazi people.
We also have to think of the cost implications that will come up with this initiative.
This is really a pilot project that would help the whole country and influence the whole
policy of the country.
We hope that this initiative will not only help Swaziland but also become a successful
example, so that other countries can come and learn from us.
We are here to give an example.
We are here to be a catalyst for change for the Ministry of Health and for the other actors,
so that when we are out, they will continue to provide essential antiretroviral treatment
for the population of Swaziland and be able to roll out the programme in the rest of the
country according to the example of Shiselweni.