Policies and Guidelines

Policies and guidelines on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) should support implementation of all four components of the World Health Organization and UNAIDS’s comprehensive approach. These components are:

  • Prevent primary HIV infection among girls and women
  • Prevent unintended pregnancies among women living with HIV
  • Reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV through antiretroviral drug treatment or prophylaxis, safer deliveries, and infant-feeding counseling
  • Provide care, treatment, and support to women living with HIV and their families
Policies and guidelines should also promote integration of PMTCT and links with maternal, newborn and child health, anti-retroviral therapy (ART), family planning (FP), and sexually transmitted infection (STI) services. This will help ensure delivery of a package of essential services for quality maternal, newborn, and child care that includes routine antenatal care for all women, additional comprehensive services for women living with HIV, and care for HIV-exposed infants and young children.

 

International Guidelines (11 resources)

As part of the global effort to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV (MTCT), the World Health Organization (WHO) periodically issues guidelines related to the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) using evidence-based interventions and strategies to develop international principles and recommendations. In this section of the Toolkit you will find the most current WHO guidelines addressing PMTCT and other relevant issues, including infant feeding, antiretroviral therapy, nutrition,and counseling and testing. Related resources included throughout this section summarize the key recommendations and rationale supporting these recommendations.

    National Guidelines (5 resources)

    International guidance on prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV should be adapted at the country level to ensure successful implementation within national programs. This section of the PMTCT Toolkit includes a series of tools from the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation to support country teams in adaptation and implementation of WHO recommendations. This section also includes illustrative national PMTCT guidelines from Ethiopia, South Africa, and Uganda that Ministries of Health and other stakeholders can use as a guide for developing their own national guidelines.

      Policy Issues (13 resources)

      As countries develop strategies to improve and scale up programs to prevent HIV infection in pregnant women, mothers and their children, policy issues related to program implementation, service delivery and quality will need to be addressed. In this section of the Toolkit you will find resources related to the integration of PMTCT services with other health care services, scaling up PMTCT services, financing PMTCT services, and task shifting.