A GROUNDBREAKING project led by a North-East doctor to rid unborn children of Aids in Uganda is producing astounding results, early indications have shown.

Of the 102 babies born to HIV-positive women since the project was launched earlier this year, 100 have since tested negative.

The pioneering initiative is being led by Dr Mohammed Kibirige, who recently retired as senior paediatrician at The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough.

He has spent six months in his native Uganda, where his outreach medical team travelled to remote areas to identify infected pregnant women.

Women were given a vaccine which worked as an anti-suppressant, effectively interrupting the HIV transmission from mother to child.

He said: “Uganda was the first African country to recognise the epidemic and the first country to reduce the presence of HIV and Aids when, around the world, the number of cases are going up.

“We are offering mums-to-be voluntary counselling and the opportunity to test for the HIV infection. The women who do test positive are referred to the specialist treatment units to receive the correct maternity care and the medication, which works as a suppressant, interrupting the HIV transmission from mother to child.”

Dr Kibirige secured funding through Rotary International, of which he is an active member.

Branches, including Middlesbrough and Stokesley, in North Yorkshire, raised more than half of the £50,000 needed to run the scheme for its first year.

The sum has been matched by a grant from the US.

He identified the need to prevent the mother-to-child transmission of HIV following his visit to Uganda two years ago and made several return trips with fellow Middlesbrough rotarians.

Under his close supervision, neonatal and paediatric consultants, a paediatric psychologist, midwives, nurses and social workers have travelled to remote communities in Uganda.

The United Nations Children’s Fund has expressed interest in the innovative project, which is being trialled in the Kayunga District, which has a population of 314,000.

Dr Kibirige added: “It is well recognised that prevention is better than cure. Babies should be given the chance to a life without inherited conditions.

“Once you have it you have the stigma and need to be looked after for the rest of your life, which is expensive.”