Treatment programme drastically slashes rates of HIV transmission from mother to baby in China’s worst-hit area
Project in Yunnan province to prevent infants becoming infected in the womb results in dramatic fall in just over a decade
The rate of HIV infections passed from mother to child has fallen in part of southwestern China from almost a quarter to less than 3 per cent in the space of just over a decade, according to mainland media reports.
The sharp reduction follows the decision to offer HIV positive mothers treatment to stop their child becoming infected in Yunnan, the province with the country’s highest levels of infection.
Rates of mother-to-child HIV transmission dropped from 22.5 per cent in 2005 to 2.72 per cent in 2016 in Dali county.
In the absence of any intervention, transmission rates range from 15 per cent to 40 per cent, according to the World Health Organisation. The virus can be transmitted during pregnancy, labour, delivery or breastfeeding.
The province started to offer treatments to prevent mother-to-child transmission 12 years ago, according to China News Service.