WHO, in collaboration with UNICEF, UNFPA and UNAIDS organized a technical consultation on the “Elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV”, in Geneva, Switzerland, from 9-11 November 2010.
The 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session of HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) committed to reduce the proportion of infants infected with HIV by 50% by 2010. Although this global goal will not be achieved by the end of 2010, considerable progress is being made towards the national scale-up of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programmes and the introduction of more effective interventions.
In 2009, UNAIDS called for the “virtual elimination” of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. This call has helped mobilize new attention and commitment to PMTCT and has set in motion a process of developing new global goals on elimination for 2015.
In 2010, WHO released new guidelines on antiretroviral drugs for treating pregnant women and preventing HIV infection in infants (Antiretroviral drugs for treating pregnant women and preventing HIV infection in infants, WHO 2010) and on HIV and infant feeding. These new guidelines provide the normative basis for significantly reducing the risk of HIV transmission from an infected mother to her infant in resource-limited settings.
The main purpose of the consultation was to provide technical and operational guidance on the goal of MTCT elimination within a framework of support to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. A report of the consultation will be released in early 2011.