Study: Eliminating Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission

Global health agencies and programs, such as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), aim to reduce the number of new HIV infections in children by 90 percent and to reduce the number of AIDS-related maternal deaths by 50 percent. In a new IHI study published today in Health Affairs, authors Dr. Pierre Barker, IHI Senior Vice President, and Dr. Kedar Mate, Country Director for IHI's South Africa Program, explain why eliminating HIV infection from mother to child in countries that are worst affected by the HIV epidemic will require improvements to maternal and child health services. They argue that the success of the ambitious global initiative to decrease infant HIV infections is critically dependent on easy access to routine maternal and child health services. Focusing on nine sub-Saharan African nations and India, the article finds that the clinical interventions needed to reduce new HIV infections in children and to reduce maternal and child mortality are well documented, and most are inexpensive and cost-effective.