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U.S. Campaign Protects Thousands of Newborns from HIV Infection

The global AIDS coordinator in the U.S. State Department reports that 378,000 HIV-positive pregnant women have received treatment to prevent the transmission of the HIV virus to their newborns.

AIDS Ambassador Randall Tobias provided a status report on the Initiative to Prevent Mother-to-Child Transmission June 28. The $500 million effort to prevent the infection of newborns has been under way 18 months and is a key component of the president's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

From that population of women, the report says an estimated 4,800 children would have been infected if the prevention program were not in place in the 15 countries in Africa the Caribbean and Southeast Asia that are the focus of the emergency plan. Pregnant women in more than 20 Caribbean island nations are receiving prevention services also.

The annual report of the Initiative to Prevent Mother-to-Child Transmission is available at http://www.state.gov/s/gac/rl/or/33896.htm

Following is the text of the media note issued on the report:

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
June 28, 2004

MEDIA NOTE

President's Plan to Prevent Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV Shows Early Progress

U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Randall L. Tobias is pleased to note the early success achieved in preventing HIV-infected mothers from passing the disease to their babies during birth, a key component of the President George W. Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Under that plan, 14,700 health workers have been trained and 900 different health care sites have established capacity for preventing infant infection in severely affected countries. The Initiative to Prevent Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) is a $500 million effort focused on 15 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, and one regional program that supports over 20 Caribbean island nations.

Even during the initial 18-month start-up period, PMTCT services were delivered to 378,000 women. It is estimated that 4,800 children who would have been born with HIV were born HIV-free as a result of the President's initiative. The initiative also provided 34,000 women with short-course antiretroviral (ARV) preventive therapy. These early results are an encouraging indication that the program will succeed in achieving the President's goals of providing PMTCT services to one million women and prophylactic ARV treatment to 80 percent of HIV-positive women who deliver children in the 15 focus nations and the regional program. Short course, preventive ARV drug treatment of a pregnant mother and child can reduce the likelihood of transmission by almost 50 percent.

"As part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, we are pursing the ambitious goal to reduce mother-to-child transmission by 40 percent in these severely affected areas over 5 years. Training 14,700 maternal and child health workers, and building capacity at over 900 health care sites, are heartening indications that we can meet that goal," said Ambassador Tobias. "The President is committed to turning the tide against this pandemic and that can only happen with dramatic progress in reducing transmission of HIV from mothers to children. The good news is that we are doing just that."

The President's $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has a goal of ARV treatment for 2 million HIV-infected persons in 15 focus countries, including pregnant women and their families. This longer-term ARV treatment of a mother nearly doubles the effectiveness of short course ARV prophylaxis to prevent infection of her baby.