Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, CDC has conducted many studies and issued a wide range of recommendations for reducing women’s risk of getting HIV and passing it on to their children.

CDC recommends that all pregnant women should be screened for HIV. An HIV test is recommended as one of the tests that all pregnant women should have. Women should be told that the test will be done unless they say no. Also, some women should get another test later in their pregnancy, especially women who live in certain areas of the country where HIV is more common. In addition, any woman who doesn’t know her HIV status by the time she goes into labor should be tested with a rapid HIV test, which can provide results within minutes.

Because HIV can be transmitted through breast milk, CDC recommends that all HIV-infected mothers in the United States should avoid breastfeeding. They should have access to infant formula that is safe and affordable.

Currently, CDC is working on a new plan of action that will help women and their children by:

• Making HIV testing a routine part of medical care.
• Finding ways to diagnose HIV outside of doctors’ offices.
• Preventing new infections by working with HIV-infected people and their partners.
• Further decreasing mother-to-child HIV transmission.

Recent findings from HIV research supported by CDC include:

• More women are tested when the HIV test is included in the standard group of tests routinely given to all pregnant women.
• More women are tested when doctors tell their patients that they want them to have an HIV test and that they recommend this test for all their patients.
• Women can agree to a rapid HIV test even when they are in labor, and women who test positive are generally glad to have the information. Also, doctors can use this information to give drugs that can lower the chance that the woman will pass the virus on to her baby.
• Women benefit from programs aimed at increasing their awareness of their HIV risk, their ability to stand up for themselves in sexual situations, and their ability to cope.