Preventing mother to child transmission of HIV in Zimbabwe

Press Release from PLoS Medicine

2012-01-11

(Press-News.org) Preventing mother to child transmission of HIV in Zimbabwe

In this week's PLoS Medicine, Andrea Ciaranello of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA and colleagues find, using a simulation model, that implementation of the latest WHO PMTCT (prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV) guidelines must take place in conjunction with improving access to PMTCT programs, increasing retention of women in care, and supporting adherence to drugs, in order to eliminate pediatric HIV in Zimbabwe.

The authors say: "Although PMTCT uptake in low- and middle-income countries has risen remarkably, from 10% in 2004 to 53% in 2009, greater access to care and medications for HIV-infected pregnant women is still needed…A focused operational research agenda is critical to identify, implement, and evaluate interventions that improve uptake and retention at each step in the PMTCT cascade."

###Funding: Funding for this work was provided by the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (all authors) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (K01 AI078754 [ALC], K24 AI062476 [KAF], R01 AI058736 [KAF, RPW, JC, JP]). The funders had no role in study design, interpretation of results, or decision to publish.

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Citation: Ciaranello AL, Perez F, Keatinge J, Park J-E, Engelsmann B, et al. (2012) What Will It Take to Eliminate Pediatric HIV? Reaching WHO Target Rates of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission in Zimbabwe: A Model-Based Analysis. PLoS Med 9(1): e1001156. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001156

CONTACT:

Andrea Ciaranello
Division of Infectious Disease
Medical Practice Evaluation Center
Massachusetts General Hospital
50 Staniford St.
Boston, MA 1772
United States of America
617-643-7540
aciaranello@partners.org

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Preventing mother to child transmission of HIV in Zimbabwe

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