HIV Testing of Pregnant Women and Newborns

Without medical intervention, an HIV-infected woman has about a one-in-four chance of giving birth to an HIV-infected baby. However, as a direct result of HIV testing and preventative therapies, the risk of HIV transmission from mothers to their infants in the United States has been dramatically reduced to less than two percent. The Foundation strongly believes we must continue to work toward further reductions in mother-to-child transmission of HIV. As recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the Foundation endorses the voluntary, routine, and universal HIV testing of pregnant women as a means of increasing testing rates and further reducing transmission from a mother to her newborn.