ARVS keeping babies HIV negative

Before prevention of mother-tochild-transmission programmes were introduced in 2002, up to 40% of babies born to Hivpositive mothers contracted the virus before, during or shortly after birth, a 1998 United Nations research review found. Today, less than one percent of babies born to Hiv-positive mothers have contracted the virus within the first week of life, a 2018 study published in the South African Medical Journal found after reviewing infant testing data between April 2016 and March 2017.

The government is hoping to eliminate mother-to-child HIV transmission by next year, according to the latest national HIV plan.

But in a recent edition of the British Medical Journal, researchers argue South Africa needs to set more realistic targets given the country’s high HIV prevalence rate. Instead, they argue, the government should focus on protecting the young women who will eventually become mothers for contracting HIV in the first place. — Nelisiwe Msomi