Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV: Issues for South East Asia - Technical Update

As reported by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in December 2000, threatening rates of transmission of HIV are being seen in much of Africa as well as in Asia. HIV has already killed more than 20 million people worldwide since the beginning of the epidemic. It has infected more than 36 million people; almost half of them were women.

It is generally agreed upon that failing to address the issues of PMTCT (prevention of mother-to-child transmission) dramatically increases the morbidity and mortality among children affected by HIV/AIDS. Thus, PMTCT has become the priority worldwide for reducing the numbers of HIV-infected children.