Study to Help Reduce Death and Transmission Rates Among HIV-Infected Mothers

University of Alabama at Birmingham: Center for Health Promotion

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Topics:
HIV/AIDS & STD Prevention

Researchers at two centers are studying ways to reduce the death rate for mothers who are infected with HIV and to lower the rate of HIV transmission to infants during breast feeding. The studies include several thousand women in Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. One study involves giving medication to HIV-positive mothers to prevent transmission of HIV to their babies during breast feeding, while noninfected mothers are monitored and treated for subsequent HIV infection, if needed. Mothers are also being counseled about breast feeding and breast care. In another study, researchers are developing nutritionally adequate and acceptable diets for early weaning of breast-fed infants. A statistical and data center is being created in Malawi as a collaborative effort of researchers, community and scientific advisory boards, and a team of internationally recognized experts in nutrition, ethics, epidemiology, pharmacology, statistics, data management, pediatrics, obstetrics, and HIV therapy.

 

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