Free AIDS test for pregnant women
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-11-10 08:35

China is taking more measures to prevent HIV/AIDS transmission from mother to baby, as the number of such infections is increasing, according to the Ministry of Health.

The health ministry's strategy for preventing mother-to-child transmission is to spread HIV/AIDS prevention education and offer free examinations to pregnant women.

According to the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Disease in the United States, if women receive anti-HIV therapies during pregnancy, the risk of HIV transmission to newborns drops.

The ministry said medical centers should provide free anti-virus therapies to pregnant HIV-infected women and the children they deliver.

All measures to prevent HIV/AIDS infections are voluntary, and the institutions which provide the services are responsible for preventing the spread of the disease to other patients, the Ministry of Health said.

China officially estimates it has 840,000 infected people but experts say the figure is more likely to be between 1 million and 1.5 million.

It is estimated that China has about 40,000 to 50,000 orphans as a result of HIV/AIDS, said Koen Vanormelingen, chief of the Health and Nutrition Section of the United Nations Children's Fund Office for China.

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