Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV

According to statistics, 30 out of every 100 pregnant mothers infected with HIV are also transmitted from their mothers. However, this number will be significantly reduced if it knows how to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

HIV is a century-old disease, until now it has not been found a definitive treatment for the disease. For pregnant women with HIV, the most important thing is still how to avoid mother-to-child HIV infection. This is difficult, but not impossible.

The rate of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is enormous, the route of transmission can be from the time the fetus is still in the abdomen, during childbirth or during breastfeeding. If a pregnant woman is HIV positive, she can be treated with a combination of anti-HIV drugs, which improves her health and avoids mother-to-child TRANSMISSION before, during or after birth, and the earlier the duration of treatment, the higher the effectiveness.

If a pregnant woman's HIV test result is positive, the doctor will advise the pregnant woman to do a number of things to prevent mother-to-child transmissionof HIV, which are:

2.1 Adequate drug treatment is required

If HIV infection is detected before pregnancy, proper use of HIV virus medications reduces the risk of HIV infection to children and the infection rate is less than 1%.

In case the pregnant woman has not received HIV treatment before pregnancy, talk to your doctor about this for appropriate solutions. If you are HIV positive during your pregnancy, start treatment immediately and take your medication regularly every day.

After birth, the child also needs treatment within 4−6 weeks to help prevent HIV infection more effectively.

2.2 Use of baby protection during childbirth

If the HIV treatment process is effective and reduces the amount of HIV virus in the mother's body, the doctor can plan for the mother to have a normal birth (at this time the risk of transmission of HIV from mother to child during childbirth will be extremely small).

However, if the test results show that the number of viruses in the mother's body is still high, it is possible that cesarean section will be a safe measure to avoid mother-to-child transmission of HIV. This procedure reduces the higher risk of transmiting HIV to your child than giving birth normally.

2.3 Use of baby protective measures when breastfeeding

The results of the study demonstrated that the milk source of the HIV-infected mother also contains the HIV virus, so the baby is also likely to be infected with HIV from the mother during the lactation period. However, if the mother strictly complies with the instructions on safe or conditional breastfeeding to buy formula for breastfeeding, it will avoid effective mother-to-child TRANSMISSION of HIV, which is also one of the preventive measures set out in case the mother is HIV positive.

In case the mother is not eligible for breastfeeding, it is still possible to breastfeed the baby but must comply with adequate treatment and fully breastfeed the baby for at least the first 6 months of life, absolutely do not feed the baby any other food along with breast milk during this time. At the same time, the baby must also be treated with ARV to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

If a HIV-positive pregnancy is treated correctly during pregnancy and during labor and the child is born with HIV virus medication for the first 6 weeks after birth, it will avoid mother-to-child TRANSMISSION to the lowest level.

In addition, a number of factors that can help increase the effectiveness of mother-to-child HIV transmission prevention measures include:

• Get tested to diagnose HIV infection before or during pregnancy as soon as possible;
• When infected with HIV, it is necessary to actively talk to the doctor and choose the method of surgery to reduce the risk of infection from mother to child.

If absolute measures have been taken to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and still want a solid result of whether the child is HIV positive, tests can be conducted immediately after birth and within 4 to 6 weeks there will be a follow-up.

If the test result is negative, it is still necessary to re-test the child after 18 months and after the end of the lactation period to check if the child is transmitted during breastfeeding. If the result is positive, the child needs to be treated immediately.

Nothing is impossible, mothers infected with HIV can also give birth to a perfectly healthy child if all measures are taken to avoid mother-to-child transmission of HIV as directed by the doctor.

To protect the health of the fetus and have a healthy and safe pregnancy, the pregnant woman should conduct an HIV screening test before pregnancy or as soon as she knows she is pregnant. Early testing and diagnosis will help to get a timely treatment regimen and reduce the severeness of the disease as well as prevent mother-to-child transmission more effectively.

The Screening package for social diseases at Share99 International Health Hub has a rapid HIV Ab test, which helps to accurately detect the HIV virus, especially necessary for pregnant mothers to take preventive measures to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

General source: Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control – Ministry of Health