[ti:Small Drug Pouch May Offer New Tool to Protect Newborns From HIV] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:Development Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:03.53]Development Report. [00:05.17]Researchers say [00:06.86]they have found a way [00:08.40]to extend the storage life [00:11.30]of a drug used to treat H.I.V. [00:15.14]Their work could [00:16.93]give infected mothers [00:18.51]in the developing world [00:20.96]a new way to prevent the spread [00:23.40]of the AIDS virus [00:25.58]to their newborn babies. [00:27.67]The drug is nevirapine. [00:29.87]If it is given within seventy-two [00:33.64]hours after birth, it can often [00:36.50]protect babies from H.I.V. [00:39.87]Researchers at Duke University [00:42.37]in North Carolina have developed [00:45.30]a small pouch made of foil and plastic. [00:49.60]They say current tests show that [00:53.14]the pouch can safely store the drug [00:56.17]for as long as four months. [00:59.16]But they expect that final results [01:02.24]in October will show it [01:04.43]can keep the liquid stable [01:06.68]for up to twelve months. [01:09.37]That way, H.I.V.-infected women [01:12.89]could have plenty of time [01:14.63]to get the pouch [01:16.08]from a health care provider [01:18.11]early in their pregnancy. [01:20.76]Caroline Gamache is a biomedical engineer [01:24.54]at Duke who worked on the project. [01:27.67]CAROLINE GAMACHE: "Many mothers deliver at home [01:29.76]in sub-Saharan Africa [01:31.01]and it's very difficult for them [01:32.65]to get to a hospital or clinic [01:34.39]which may be miles away [01:35.49]in that time period. [01:36.78]And so we are proposing to give [01:38.83]this pouch to mothers in their first [01:41.57]or second trimester, [01:42.46]when they come in [01:44.00]for their first antenatal care visit. [01:45.61]And then they would take the pouch home [01:47.21]and they'd have it at their hands [01:49.05]at the time of delivery." [01:50.70]The idea is that mothers [01:52.73]would pour the liquid [01:54.39]into the baby's mouth [01:56.20]as part of an H.I.V. treatment program. [01:59.63]The drug company Boehringer Ingelheim [02:03.02]developed nevirapine. [02:05.02]It says one dose of the medicine [02:07.95]given to mother and child [02:10.25]prevents the spread of H.I.V. [02:13.50]in more than fifty percent of cases. [02:16.62]Boehringer Ingelheim has been working [02:19.88]with the nonprofit organization PATH [02:22.81]to offer a similar pouch [02:25.50]for the past several years. [02:27.70]The nevirapine is contained [02:30.39]in a small dropper placed inside the pouch. [02:36.12]They got the idea [02:37.95]from health workers in Kenya. [02:40.75]The workers had been putting [02:42.49]the medicine into droppers, [02:44.63]then wrapping the tube with tape, [02:47.37]aluminum foil and plastic. [02:50.60]PATH designed a foil pouch [02:53.24]that could keep the medicine stable [02:55.43]for up to two months. [02:57.76]Adriane Burman is [03:00.05]with the PATH office [03:01.60]in Seattle, Washington. [03:03.33]She says the pouch is an important tool [03:07.02]for preventing the spread of H.I.V. [03:10.56]from mother to child. [03:12.35]She noted a United Nations report [03:16.17]that in two thousand eight [03:18.57]about four hundred thirty thousand babies [03:22.14]were born with H.I.V. [03:24.93]Nine out of ten were born in Africa. [03:29.13]The report said nearly [03:31.63]all the mother-to-child infections [03:34.57]could have been prevented [03:36.46]through interventions. [03:39.00]And that's the VOA Special English [03:42.60]Development Report, [03:44.29]written by June Simms. [03:46.81]You can find transcripts, [03:48.91]MP3s and podcasts of our reports [03:52.54]at 51voa.com. I'm Steve Ember.