Antiretroviral Drugs for Treating Pregnant Women and Preventing HIV Infections in Infants Recommendations for a Public Health Approach (2010 Version)

The 2010 guidelines are developed to provide international standards, primarily for low- and middle income settings, in support of the global scale-up of more effective interventions aimed at preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV (MTCT) in resource-limited settings. Once implemented, these recommendations could reduce the risk of MTCT to less than 5% (or even lower) in breastfeeding populations from a background risk of 35%, and to less than 2% in non-breastfeeding populations from a background risk of 25%, and will ensure increased maternal and child survival.

The 2010 revision of the WHO guidelines on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) complies with the recently updated WHO guidelines development process, which requires systematic review of new evidence for key questions and recommendations, as well as a consideration of programme feasibility and the cost implications of potential new recommendations. WHO has simultaneously revised guidelines for adult ART as well as HIV and infant feeding. All three sets of guidelines were updated in a harmonized fashion.