Prevention of mother-to-child transmission

Mary discovered she had HIV when she was five months pregnant. A health worker at Isiolo District Hospital in central Kenya explained that there was an effective treatment to prevent her from passing HIV to her baby.

Mary received a course of medicine for three months before she gave birth and a tablet when she went into labour. Baby Samuel was given some medicated syrup soon after he was born. After an agonising wait of seven months, Mary received joyful news: Samuel’s HIV test confirmed he was born free from HIV.

“When the nurse told me, it was the happiest day of my life. I was so excited, I couldn’t sleep!” Mary says.

Mother-to-child transmission of HIV

Without the services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT), about one-third of women with HIV will pass the virus to her baby.  Given proper prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services, this risk can be reduced to less than 2 per cent.

PMTCT services include counselling, medicine and testing for HIV. Mothers with HIV receive a course of antiretroviral medicine to take before birth and then a tablet with the onset of labour. When the mother has given birth, the baby is given medicated syrup. In addition, mothers are counselled on infant-feeding options to reduce the risk of transmission through breastfeeding.

UNICEF believes that mothers with HIV need more than just the medical treatment and care that prevents them passing the virus to their babies. It is vital to provide ongoing treatment and care, so that the baby that is born free does not grow up an orphan.

To this end, we support the development of PMTCT services as a starting point for providing treatment, care and support to whole families.

Almost every minute of every day, a baby is born with HIV, passed on by their mother during pregnancy, labour or delivery. In 2008, an estimated 387,000 babies were born with HIV. Lacking treatment, half of them are unlikely to live to see their second birthday.

The good news is that access to PMTCT has increased in recent years and 45 per cent of pregnant women with HIV now receive anti-retroviral prophylaxis to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus to their babies. But there is still more work to be done.

UNICEF is campaigning to ensure that all pregnant women with HIV receive the right medicine and care to prevent them passing HIV onto their baby. Given this medicine and care, the chance that a mother with HIV will pass the virus to her baby drops to less than 1 in 50. From as little as £35, you can provide an HIV test for a pregnant woman and the medicine that can stop a child being born with HIV.

UNICEF’s 'Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS' campaign aims to provide medicine and care for all mothers and babies.

Find out more

• Donate now to our 'Unite against AIDS' campaign
• Video: Preventing HIV transmission in Djibouti
• The Gift: a film about PMTCT, narrated by Gwyneth Paltrow
  
• Lesotho voices: mothers with HIV
• Download an information sheet about PMTCT
  
• More films about UNICEF's HIV work
• Sign up for our Campaign e-newsletter