UNICEF Aims to Eliminate HIV Infections in Infants by 2015 [Slide Show]

Is it possible? The United Nations agency thinks so. To see why, follow an HIV-positive mom and her baby as they go through an 18-month HIV-transmission prevention program

By Francie Diep

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

Every day more than 1,000 infants worldwide are infected with HIV during gestation, delivery or breast-feeding, according to U.N. estimates. But the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says it will eliminate the transmission of HIV from mothers to their babies in just four years. It's an ambitious goal that the fund is unlikely to meet without major changes, but it's not impossible.

"What it doesn't require is a new scientific breakthrough," says Jimmy Kolker, chief of UNICEF's HIV/AIDS Programme. Mother-to-child HIV transmission virtually never happens in developed nations, where babies and moms have easier access to a prophylactic regimen of antiretroviral drugs. Medically, protecting infants from HIV infection means "just doing what we're already doing" in developed nations, such as giving moms a combination antiretroviral drug treatment during pregnancy and babies a dose of the drug nevirapine immediately after birth. For women who do not have access to clean, safe water to mix infant formula, it also means continuing antiretroviral treatments for moms and babies during breast-feeding.

The challenge now is to bring these drugs, which have been available since the late 1990s and have since undergone several revisions and improvements, to middle- and low-income countries. "The problems are logistical," says Laurie Garrett, a global health researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations.

This slide show explores what is needed to stop mother-to-child HIV transmission by 2015, following Inonge Siamalambo and her baby Elson of Lusaka, Zambia, through their 18-month commitment to a transmission prevention program.
View a slide show of Siamalambo and Elson

Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism

Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.

When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.

Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber

Thank you,

Jeanna Bryner, Editor in Chief, Scientific American