ABSTRACT
Every year, 1.5 million HIV-infected women give birth worldwide, which resulted in 430,000 new pediatric HIV infections in 2008 (Antiretroviral drugs for treating pregnant women 2010). Without interventions to prevent mother-to-child transmission (MTCT), the risk of infant infection ranges from 15 to 30% in non-breastfeeding and up to 45% in breastfeeding populations (Antiretroviral drugs for treating pregnant women 2010). The landmark PACTG 076 trial showed that zidovudine (AZT) administered to pregnant women before and during delivery, and to their infants, reduced MTCT to 8% (Connor et al. 1994). Since that monumental discovery, multiple trials have evaluated the effi cacy of other antiretrovirals (ARVs) in prevention of MTCT (PMTCT). Use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has resulted in a marked decline in current transmission rates to less than 2% (Achievements in public health 2006, Townsend et al. 2008, Warszawski et al. 2008). Resourcelimited areas without access to HAART continue to struggle with the development of shorter, simpler, cheaper ARV regimens that produce similarly low MTCT rates.
