Tools currently exist to virtually eliminate pediatric HIV. Over the past decade, the number of children who contracted HIV during the perinatal and breastfeeding period decreased from 500,000 in 2001 to 370,000 in 2009.

Unfortunately, inadequate access to and use of HIV care, treatment and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services means that children are newly infected with HIV each year. MCHIP is working to better integrate PMTCT with MNCH services in high-prevalence countries, specifically through:

• Primary prevention of HIV among women of reproductive age;
• Prevention of unintended pregnancies among women living with HIV;
• Prevention of vertical transmission among HIV-positive pregnant women using ART or prophylaxis during pregnancy, labor and breastfeeding; and
• Care and treatment for women, children and their partners.

MCHIP is working to better integrate PMTCT with maternal and child health services in high-prevalence countries. MCHIP is also working in collaboration with UNICEF to expand access to PMTCT beyond the formal health system using the Mother-Baby Package, a guide to saving women’s and infants’ lives.