A Real-Life Action toward the End of HIV Pandemic: Surveillance of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission in a Center from Southeast Romania

Abstract

Preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission is a strategy to eliminate new infections to move toward a world free of HIV/AIDS. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of the perinatal infection prevention program in a single center from southeast Romania. Newborns of HIV-positive mothers from 2005 to 2020 were followed-up until the age of two in a retrospective study. The transmission rate from HIV-positive mothers to living children was zero, but neonatal mortality, preterm birth and birth defects were still high. The peculiarity of our study is the high proportion of mothers with a nosocomial pattern of HIV transmission. Intensifying the efforts for accurate implementing the interventions for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission, a long time follow-up for HIV-exposed uninfected children and new research on related HIV pregnancies are necessary to reach the objective of a new generation free of HIV.