Nearly 4,000 Vietnamese women are infected with HIV every year, according to the Department of Maternal and Child Health under Ministry of Health.Therefore, it is extremely necessary to give them guidance to protect their fetus.
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According to the National Committee for AIDS, Drug and Prostitution Prevention and Control, since implementing "Prevention Month of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission" in June on a annual basis since 2009, the rate of mother-to-child HIV infection has decreased.
Specifically, the rate was 10.8% in 2010, and then fell to 2.8% in 2015 and was only 1.93% by the end of 2018, meeting the standard of eliminating mother-to-child HIV transmission.
The Department of Maternal and Child Health also shows that nearly two million Vietnamese women get pregnant each year, of them HIV infection among pregnant women accounts for 0.19% (equivalent to more than 3,800 cases) and the number of children born with HIV from HIV-infected mothers each year is about 1,140 – 1,520, accounting for 30-40% of the cases.
In order to further reduce the rate of HIV-infected children from their mothers, the Ministry of Health proposes to keep educating about benefits and effectiveness of preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission, counseling on HIV testing for pregnant women, enhancing effective ARV prophylaxis, well managing the HIV-acquired mothers, among other measures.
To detect HIV infection in pregnant women, all expectant mothers should go to health facilities for HIV testing and counseling as soon as possible, preferably in the first three months. If detected early and treated timely, mother-to-child transmission cases could be limited.
