Gita and her husband arrived at the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy (Sir J.J.) Hospital more than 15 years ago desperately wanting to have children. Because they were living with HIV, doctors had discouraged them from becoming parents, so they travelled five hours to bustling Mumbai, India, to see Rekha Daver, with the hope of finding a solution. Any solution.

Ms Daver is a doctor who heads the gynaecology department at the state-run hospital. Under her leadership, the hospital has become a referral centre for HIV-positive pregnant women, who are often turned away from other health facilities.

“Back then I could not guarantee that their child would not be HIV-positive, but I enrolled Gita on our antiretroviral therapy programme,” Ms Daver recalled. Subsequently, Gita’s husband was enrolled on the programme. Within a year Gita gave birth to a baby girl at the hospital.

“They never missed an appointment and when their daughter was born HIV-negative you should have seen their happiness,” she said. The couple, with their teenager in tow, still visit Ms Daver, which delights her. “It is not just a question of preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, it’s also having two adults living healthy lives.”

Ms Daver knows all about giving life. Since 2000 her team has performed more than 1 000 deliveries of HIV positive women. As of late there is cause to celebrate because in the last two years 100 women on the new three-drug regimen have had children born HIV-free.

Sarita Jadav, the New Delhi United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Focal Point for HIV and School Health Education, praised Ms Daver. “Maternal and child health is one of her passions and she has dedicated more than 37 years to servicing underprivileged women,” she said. Ms Jadav stressed the fact that despite having studied and worked in the United States of America and obtained a green card, Ms Daver chose to return to India and work in state hospitals and to train thousands of medical students.

“Her tireless efforts to bring about change and to save lives have been admired by all,” Ms Jadav added.

Ms Daver talked about the importance of counselling. “When I see women who are HIV-positive and their husbands HIV-negative there are often societal pressures on the couple, not so when the man is HIV-positive and the woman is negative,” she said. “My team and I have been trying to raise awareness about safe sex practices and family planning.” She credits her work at the Human Reproduction Research Centre and at the Indian Council of Medical Research in broadening her scope regarding women’s health.

Supporting women has driven Ms Daver’s career. She always knew she wanted to be a doctor and had set her sights on being a surgeon, but growing up in a small town she realized that helping women was key and that she could make a bigger impact as an obstetrician/gynaecologist.

After attending medical college in India, she spent three years at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, United States. When she decided to move back to India her husband Dr Gustad (medical school sweetheart) and two children moved back with her.

In 1990, she started at the Sir J.J. Hospital and it was then that she started to see more and more women living with HIV.

“I realized there was no cure and that perhaps my best bet was to focus on prevention, especially from mother-to-child.”

After studying programmes in Thailand and Uganda, Ms Daver’s team started providing access to antiretroviral medicine to mothers living with HIV during their pregnancy. Without antiretroviral medicine, between 33% and 45% of infants born to women living with HIV will become infected with HIV. The Sir J.J. Hospital project became a pilot programme and Ms Daver trained other doctors from across India.

With the success of programmes to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, Ms Daver can once again promote breastfeeding. “Before I worried so much because I was saving the child but mortality rates remained high because of a lack of antibodies,” she said. “Now women can safely breastfeed, which makes me so happy,” she said.

Her enthusiasm for her work is infectious, explains her daughter. “I always saw my mother’s devotion to people living with HIV, as well as her passion regarding women’s issues,” said the New York based Roshni Daver. “In fact she inspired me to become a doctor.”

“The key to my mother’s long and successful career is her excellent time management, or perhaps it’s because she wakes up very early,” said her daughter.

Her mother sees it another way, saying, “It gives me a great sense of satisfaction to help all these underprivileged women as well as to train the future generation of doctors.”