Mumbai: The National Aids Control Organisation will roll out the multi-drug regimen in Mumbai and rest of Maharashtra for HIV+ pregnant women from February 1, with an aim to achieve zero transmission rate in newborns.
According to reports in Mumbai alone, as many as 400 HIV-positive women deliver babies annually. Experts say that in cases where infected women were not administered Nevirapine, about 40 per cent newborns tested positive for the infection.
This multidrug therapy has been introduced because HIV transmission from mother to her newborn is known to occur during all three phases: pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding.
Under this new programme the HIV-infected pregnant women will now be administered a multidrug therapy though at present, an HIV-infected pregnant women is given Nevirapine tablet two hours before delivery and the newborn is given Nevirapine syrup within 72 hours of birth.
