The updated South African National Guideline for the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of Communicable Infections (2019)

Abstract

South Africa has made great strides in reducing the vertical transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the first two months of life from 23% (2003) to 0.7% (2019), despite a persistently high antenatal HIV prevalence of around 30%. Improving access to antiretroviral therapy during antenatal care has significantly contributed to this success, but has led to an increase in the relative proportion of vertical transmissions due to breastfeeding in the first six months post-delivery. Yet, due to the short- and long-term benefits of breastfeeding and risks associated with not breastfeeding, mothers need to be supported to breastfeed their infants for the longest duration possible, while maintaining virological suppression to reduce the vertical transmission risk.