Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - Friday August 13, 1999
"If we look at the rest of Europe, we have done very well in this country in preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS. It is in this very particular area -- the preventable transmission of HIV from mother to baby -- that we rank among the worst," she said.
"That is what we want to put right," she told BBC Radio.
So HIV screening is to be made available at every ante-natal clinic in the country.
Health experts say a combination of anti-retroviral drugs, birth by Caesarean section and bottle-feeding reduces the chance of mother-to-baby HIV transmission from one in six to one in 100.
The new tests, which are to be offered alongside blood tests and other standard screening programs for pregnant women, will be confidential and would not be reported to insurance companies without the patient's consent, the Health Department said.
The British scheme follows similar programs in France and the United States. Britain also has one of the highest rates in the Western world of HIV among children and teenagers.
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