Where is the M in MTCT? The broader issues in mother-to-child transmission of HIV

With great worldwide inequities in income distribution and access to health and social services rates of maternal mortality and morbidity in developing countries remain extraordinarily high. It is noted that access to emergency care is the single most important component in lowering maternal mortality. In Africa Asia and Latin America access to such services is either very limited or entirely absent. At the July 2000 International AIDS Conference in Durban South Africa much of the discussion focused on preventing maternal-infant transmission of HIV. In 1999 an estimated 500000 neonates were infected with HIV during the prenatal intrapartum or breastfeeding periods. In relation to mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) the following imperatives need to be considered; these include treatment of women but not just to decrease MTCT treatment of infants who are HIV-positive access to clean water and adequate amounts of formula milk and significant investment in the infrastructure needed to fulfill these goals. As a first step government agencies bilateral donors nongovernmental organizations and others working to decrease MTCT of HIV should join with their counterparts in advocating for womens health and rights.