Antenatal screening for HIV: time to embrace change

Abstract

In August 1999 the Government set a national objective of reducing the numbers of children acquiring human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection from their mothers by 80%. The key policy change towards achieving this objective was that HIV testing was to be recommended as a routine and integral part of antenatal care. The UK has fallen behind other Western industrialized countries in the uptake of antenatal testing and reduction in mother-to-child transmission. This article examines the background to these new recommendations, the substantial benefits of available interventions and the reasons why current testing policies have been failing.