Abesha Care HIV/AIDS Initiative

Content Source:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Divisions of HIV/AIDS Prevention
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention

Pregnancy and Childbirth

Between 120,000 to 160,000 women in the United States are
infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Nearly one out of four
of these women don’t know they have HIV. This puts them at high
risk of passing the virus to their babies.

Women can pass HIV to their babies during pregnancy, while the
baby is being delivered, or through breast-feeding. Mother-to-child
transmission is the most common way children become infected with
HIV. Nearly all AIDS cases in U.S. children are because of mother-
to-child transmission.

Not all women who have HIV will give it to their children. Without
treatment or breastfeeding about 25% (1 in 4) of pregnant women
with HIV will transmit the virus to their babies. Fortunately, a group
of drugs called antiretrovirals works well in stopping HIV
transmission. If women take these drugs before and during birth,
and their babies are given drugs after birth, HIV transmission is
reduced from 25% to less than 2% (fewer than 2 in 100). Regularly
testing pregnant women for HIV and providing antiretroviral drugs if
they are infected has dramatically reduced the number of children
born with HIV. In 1992, 855 children in the U.S. developed AIDS, but
in 2005 only 57 children developed AIDS - a decline of 93%.

Even though more men than women have HIV, women are catching
up. In fact, if new HIV infections continue at their current rate
around the world, women with HIV may soon outnumber men with
HIV worldwide. In the United States at the end of 2005, 27% of
adults and adolescents living with HIV or AIDS were women. About
6,000-7,000 of those women with HIV give birth each year.

The good news is that women with HIV are living longer and
healthier lives. With proper care and treatment, many women can
continue to take care of themselves and their children.

Since the beginning of the epidemic, an estimated 8,460 children
who got HIV from their mothers have been diagnosed with AIDS.
Nearly 5,000 of these children have died. Fortunately, new AIDS
cases in children have steadily declined -- from 855 in 1992 to 57 in
2005.

Like their mothers, children born with HIV are also benefiting from
early diagnosis and better treatment. Many are living longer and
healthier lives due to these life-saving drugs and other preventive
measures.

Here are some more facts about HIV and AIDS in U.S. children:

Mother-to-child HIV/AIDS in 2005

About 142 children got HIV from their mothers.

Approximately 6,015 children and young adults who got HIV
from their mothers were living with HIV/AIDS at the end of
2005.

Of those living with HIV/AIDS who got HIV from their mothers,
66% were African American.

In 2005, an estimated 46 children and young adults who got
HIV from their mothers died from AIDS.

Content Source:
Divisions of HIV/AIDS Prevention
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
AIDS resource center in Ethiopia

Prevent HIV transmission
from mother to child