The terms commonly used to describe HIV transmission from parents to their children include mother-to-child transmission, parent-to-child transmission, perinatal transmission, and vertical transmission. Many advocates recommend abandoning the term "mother-to-child" transmission because this term implicitly blames women for infecting their unborn children (GENDER-AIDS eForum, 2003). Indeed, women and their unborn children are often infected by their own husband/fathers (Feinstein & Prentice, 2001).
HIV can be transmitted from an infected mother to her child during pregnancy, during labor and delivery, or through breastfeeding. Without intervention, the risk of transmission from a mother with HIV to her child before or during birth is 15%–25%. Breastfeeding by a mother with HIV raises the risk by 5%–20%, to a total risk of 20%–45% (Newell, 2004).
Vertical transmission of HIV has been virtually eliminated in the developed world. But, rates remain high in resource-constrained countries, particularly sub-Saharan African countries, where the vast majority of HIV-infected women of childbearing age reside. These high rates are largely a result of these women's lack of access to existing prevention interventions.
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