Timing of HIV testing among pregnant and breastfeeding women and risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission in Malawi: a sampling-based cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Pregnant women living with HIV can achieve viral suppression and prevent HIV mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) with timely HIV testing and early ART initiation and maintenance. Although it is recommended that pregnant women undergo HIV testing early in antenatal care in Malawi, many women test positive during breastfeeding because they did not have their HIV status ascertained during pregnancy, or they tested negative during pregnancy but seroconverted postpartum. We sought to estimate the association between the timing of last positive HIV test (during pregnancy vs. breastfeeding) and outcomes of maternal viral suppression and MTCT in Malawi's PMTCT programme.

Methods

We conducted a two-stage cohort study among mother-infant pairs in 30 randomly selected high

SUBMITTER: Chagomerana MB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7982503 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature