By Katy Salmon

NAIROBI, Aug 17 (IPS) - Kenya's government is now offering free drugs to all HIV positive women when they give birth to protect their babies from the virus.

Whereas mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS has been virtually eliminated in the developed world, it is still an enormous challenge for countries south of the Sahara.

Every year, some 50,000 Kenyan babies contract the HIV virus that causes AIDS from their mothers when they are born. Half of them could be saved if the drug Nevirapine is administered at birth.

In some developed countries, Nevirapine has reduced the rate of mother to child transmission to 5 percent.

The mother requires one dose of Nevirapine on the onset of labour while the baby's dose is administered hours after birth.

"These services are, and will continue to be, absolutely free in government health facilities," Kenyan Health Minister Sam Ongeri announced to applause at the programme's launch this week.

"It is my passionate appeal to you to make use of these services in an attempt to strive to bring forth HIV free babies. Go there. It will be a free service," he urged.

Nicholas Alipui, country representative for the United Nations children's Fund (UNICEF) praised the government's proactive approach.

"Today we are taking a major step in intensifying our actions to tackle the problem of HIV/AIDS. I would like to congratulate the government for taking the driving seat in this," he said.

Kenya's decision to support Nevirapine stands in marked contrast to the South African government which was taken to the Constitutional Court by AIDS activists over its refusal to roll-out the drug.

Now that Kenya has introduced the programme, one of the biggest remaining hurdles in its implementation is that the majority of HIV positive Kenyans do not know that they are infected.

The government recently started an advertising campaign to promote its voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) centres. The ads urge people to "take control" and find out their HIV status.

"They get scared in getting to the VCT centre because they don't want to know their status. The minute they know they are HIV positive, they feel they are condemned to death. There are the problems of stigmatisation," Ongeri sympathised.

"Let's change our approach," he told the assembled health professionals.

"It's a centre for information. Let's say you are going there to know your health status, about malaria, TB and HIV. Let's celebrate life for the more than 80 percent of Kenyans (out of sexually active population) who are HIV negative," he urged.

The government plans to build 256 VCT centres across the country, though Ongeri says even this will not be enough.

One incentive to come to the centres is that people who test positive will be given advice on how to stay as healthy as possible for the remainder of their lives.

A healthy diet is a key part of this.

"Nutrition forms a major backbone of the management of those with HIV/AIDS. More than 50 per cent of patients who are positive may never move towards anti-retroviral treatment (drug cocktails which prolong the life of people living with HIV/AIDS) if they are put on proper, balanced, good nutritional products," Ongeri explained.

"Some food stuffs are very powerful immunogenic agents that are able to stimulate the development of T4 cells and hence counteract the virus.

"If we can offer a powerful nutritional base then I think we can be able to support the many Kenyans who are scared when they have their status known. Tell them that they can have a quality life when they are HIV positive," he said.

Unfortunately, the most potent tool for prolonging the lives of people with HIV/AIDS û- anti- retroviral drugs -û are not an option for the majority of those affected by the disease.

Anti-retroviral drugs cost about 800 U.S. dollars a year, way beyond the budget of the majority of Kenyans who live on less than 1 U.S. dollar a day. Less than 5,000 of the 2.5 million HIV positive Kenyans are currently on anti-retroviral medication.

Many feel that the developed world could do a lot more to help.

"What would be the moral right to save the child and tell the mother, 'It's nice to have delivered this beautiful young baby. We are saving your baby and not you?'" Ongeri challenged.

"Is it fair that you only save one and discard the other? We should also be able to treat the mother effectively with the anti-retroviral drugs. We should also be able to treat the other spouse," he said.

Campaigners are lobbying the major pharmaceutical companies to reduce their prices and for generic versions of the drugs to be made more readily available.

"We must not accept this sad notion that we live in separate worlds," urged Alipui.(END/IPS/AF/HE/KS/MN/02)