UNAIDS
A blueprint to eliminate new HIV infections among children Four key actions are recommended to reduce the number of children acquiring HIV infection: (1) strengthen primary HIV prevention services to ensure that reproductive-age women and their partners avoid HIV infection, (2) take steps (such as providing contraceptives and counselling) to meet the unmet need for family planning among women living with HIV, (3) provide HIV testing, counselling and antiretroviral medicines in a timely manner to pregnant women living with HIV to prevent transmission to their children and (4) ensure proper and timely HIV care, treatment and support for women living with HIV, children living with HIV and their families. With respect to preventing children from acquiring HIV infection, the state of the art is rapidly evolving, as new evidence emerges regarding the most effective methods of reducing the risk of transmission. Similarly, countries need to adapt existing systems and approaches as new evidence becomes available. Critical decisions include whether to maintain lifelong triple antiretroviral therapy for pregnant women living with HIV who initiate treatment at CD4 counts above 350 per ml, whether to include efavirenz in combination regimens for pregnant women and the type and duration of recommended infant-feeding practices to maximize prevention benefits for the child.
Fig. 3.1
Percentage of pregnant women living with HIV receiving effective antiretroviral regimens for preventing mother-to-child transmission, by region, 2010 and 2011
100
80
%
60
40
20
2010 2011
0 Middle East and North Africa
South and South-East Asia
East Asia and Oceania
Caribbean
Sub-Saharan Africa
Latin America
Coverage for Eastern Europe and Central Asia is not reported because the data have not been completely validated. Sources: 2012 country progress reports (www.unaids.org/cpr) and UNAIDS estimates.
44
Low- and middleincome countries