ART for All HIV-Infected Pregnant Women in Malawi Increases Treatment Coverage

Substantial progress has been made in reducing the rates of mother-to-child transmission of HIV worldwide. However, HIV-infected pregnant women in low- and middle-income countries do not always receive antiretroviral therapy (ART) to prevent such transmission, as well as to treat their own HIV disease. One of the main barriers has been inadequate access to CD4 cell–count testing to determine when ART should be initiated.

In Malawi, given the limited capacity to determine CD4-cell counts, the Ministry of Health implemented “Option B+,” which provides lifelong ART to all HIV-infected pregnant and breastfeeding women, regardless of CD4-cell count. In preparation for this implementation, 4839 healthcare workers were trained to initiate ART at Ma…