Pretoria - Virtual elimination of paediatric HIV could be possible by 2015, with intensified effort, says South African Medical Research Council (MRC) researcher, Dr Ameena Goga.
"However, we need to address the postnatal component and variabilities in Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) service coverage. Reduction in Mother to Child Transmission (MTCT) will contribute towards reduction of incident HIV infections at population level," Goga said.
The study results from a national survey, conducted between June to December 2010, to evaluate the effectiveness of the South African PMTCT programme at six weeks postpartum.
It showed that out of 9 915 infants attending public sector clinics for their six-week immunisation, 31.4 percent were exposed to HIV but only 3.5 percent were infected.
Health Department spokesperson Fidel Hadebe told BuaNews the department welcomed the result of the survey noting that it is now scientific evidence that it is possible for a HIV positive woman to have an HIV negative baby.
"We welcome the development for us as the department because we have been very worried about children born HIV positive whilst it is not their fault," Hadebe said.
He stressed the need to strengthen the PMTCT programmes by investing more resources on PMTCT in order to reach the ultimate goal of having zero percent of babies born with HIV.
The survey was conducted by the Health Systems Research Unit of the MRC and several role players including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Unicef, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Wits Infant HIV Diagnostics and the University of Western Cape.
Researchers visited 580 facilities across South Africa where interviews were conducted with consenting caregivers of infants aged 4-8 weeks and dried blood spots were collected from enrolled consented infants.
Goga said the survey was the first ever rigorous national SA PMTCT evaluation in the nine provinces of South Africa, noting that sample size was calculated to obtain valid national and provincial level MTCT estimates at 4-8 weeks post-delivery.
"The survey put the spotlight on gaps in postnatal care and infant follow-up. This emphasises the importance of tracking MTCT rates until 18 months to measure the effectiveness of the complete PMTCT programme."
Goga said they are planning to repeat the study in 2011 and 2012 so that they can track MTCT rates over three years.
"However, we will also follow-up infants so that we can also measure HIV transmission rates between six week and 18 months."
Dr Debra Jackson from the University of Western Cape said the survey highlighted the acceptability of routine infant HIV testing once the advantages were explained, noting that 92 percent of eligible caregivers agreed to their infants being tested for HIV.
In 2010 the South African government revised the PMTCT guidelines to include azidothymidine treatment (AZT) to all pregnant HIV women from 14 weeks, with a CD 4 count of 350 or with symptoms regardless of CD 4 count to have access to treatment.
The PMTCT guidelines also promote the integration of PMTCT services into routine maternal, newborn and child health services. The PMTCT Evaluation provides data to track the operational effectiveness of the revised guidelines.
