Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission
Children under 15 years of age account for one in six AIDS-related deaths worldwide each year and one in seven new HIV infections due to mother-to-child transmission. When proper action is taken before and after birth, almost all of these infections can be prevented. Interventions to prevent mother-to-child transmission include HIV counseling and testing for pregnant women and their partners and children, provision of antiretroviral therapy (depending on country treatment protocols), CD4 cell count estimation and counseling on infant feeding and family planning.
PSI's social marketing approach to prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) involves improving service delivery through training and communication campaigns on the importance of HIV counseling and testing for pregnant women. PSI also partners with public and private sector providers to increase access to and demand for high-quality, comprehensive PMTCT services through franchised networks of service providers and existing antenatal care facilities, careful management of commodities and supply logistics, and research-driven mass media communication campaigns.
PSI works in partnership with Ministries of Health and private sector health care providers in Mozambique, India and Zimbabwe to promote PMTCT.
Archived in
Health Areas: Child Survival, HIV
