Perinatal HIV Prevention in the US

The François Xavier Bagnoud Center has provided leadership for educating healthcare providers on the local, state, and national levels about strategies to reduce perinatal HIV transmission since the results of PACTG 076, released in 1994, showed that transmission of HIV from mother to child could be dramatically reduced with antiretroviral prophylaxis during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and to the newborn.

The FXB Center HIV/AIDS National Resource Center has had a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) since 1999 as one of the national organizations funded to provide training and technical assistance to healthcare providers and agencies across the country.

The current US Perinatal HIV Prevention project has targeted interventions to help identify factors that limit women's access to perinatal HIV prevention services. A 2004-2005 project focused on enhancing the capacity of hospitals to offer rapid HIV testing in labor and delivery to women who present in labor with undocumented HIV status. Eight strategic planning workshops in locations across the US reached 70 hospitals in 28 states and territories. A 2005-2006 FXB Center follow-up study of the participating hospitals found that nearly 90% had decided to offer rapid HIV testing in labor and delivery and had policies and procedures in place or in process. The FXB Center has developed model hospital policies, provider scripts for educating women in labor about rapid HIV testing, and consumer education materials.

Current activities include partnering with Healthy Start projects to help assure that HIV testing, including rapid testing, is available in prenatal settings that outreach to pregnant women who may not otherwise be in care.