Context
Each year in Thailand, about 10 000 children are born at risk for
mother-to-child human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission. In 2000,
Thailand implemented a national program to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission.
Objective
To describe the results of implementation of the program.
Design
Monthly collection of summary data from hospitals.
Setting
Public health hospitals (n = 822) in all 12 regions of Thailand, representing
75 provinces, excluding Bangkok.
Participants
Women giving birth from October 2000 through September 2001, including
HIV-seropositive women and their neonates.
Main Outcome Measures
Percentages of women giving birth who were tested for HIV, HIV-seropositive
women giving birth who received antenatal prophylactic antiretroviral drugs,
and HIV-exposed neonates who received prophylactic antiretroviral drugs and
infant formula.
Results
Among 573 655 women (range, 27 344-77 806 by region)
giving birth, 554 912 (96.7%) received antenatal care (range, 91.9%-98.8%
by region). Of 554 912 women giving birth who had antenatal care, 517 488
(93.3%) were tested for HIV (range, 87.7%-99.4% by region) before giving birth;
of 18 743 women giving birth who did not have antenatal care, 13 314
(71.0%) were tested for HIV (range, 21.7%-92.9% by region). Of 6646 HIV-seropositive
women giving birth, 4659 (70.1%) received prophylactic antiretroviral drugs
before delivery (range, 55.3%-81.2% by region). Of 6475 neonates of HIV-seropositive
women, 5741 (88.7%) received prophylactic antiretroviral drugs (range, 67.4%-96.9%
by region) and 5386 (83.2%) received infant formula (range, 65.3%-100% by
region).
Conclusions
Major program components of Thailand's national program for preventing
mother-to-child HIV transmission were implemented. Thailand's experience may
encourage other developing countries to implement or expand similar national
programs.