PEPFAR funding directly reduces maternal transmission of HIV, infant mortality



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Researchers reported that annual funding of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has reduced infant-related mortality by more than 10% HIV transmission from mother to child. They suggest that when funding is reviewed on a cumulative basis, infant mortality drops by almost a third.

According to the Presidential Emergency Plan for the Fight against AIDS (PEPFAR), the organization provides antiretroviral therapy to more than 14 million people. countries. A report released in late 2017 by ONE – an international, non-partisan, non-profit organization fighting extreme poverty and preventable diseases – says $ 800 million has been reduced to bilateral efforts to fight HIV / AIDS and $ 225 million to the Global Fund. federal government. According to the ONE, these reductions could lead to about 300,000 deaths and more than 1.75 million new infections a year.

"PEPFAR spending in Kenya to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV reduced child mortality by about 30% in their first year of life" Donna Spiegelman , ScD, Dwight Bliss Professor of Biostatistics at the Yale School of Public Health, reported Infectious Diseases in Children . "Obviously, this program saves many lives, and expanding into other countries like Kenya, where the program has been successful, will save even more lives."

According to researchers, more than $ 240 million has been invested in PEPFAR to target HIV transmission from mother to child in Kenya. This funding, provided between 2004 and 2014, halved child mortality in the country.

Spiegelman and colleagues examined how annual per capita cumulative funding for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV affects neonatal and infant mortality, as well as counseling, testing and treatment. number of receipts for these services. prenatal care.

Of the 30,424 children included in the research and the 21,048 mothers, a difference of 1 interquartile gap (IQR) in annual per capita funding was linked to an 11% decrease in infant mortality. Infant mortality decreased by 31% when a 1-IQR difference was made in cumulative funding.

The researchers were also able to establish a link between a 1-IQR difference in annual funding and a 6% increase in prenatal HIV testing. They found a similar increase when they reviewed the cumulative funding. The funding, according to Spiegelman and colleagues, is likely to have a causal effect on reducing infant mortality and increasing prenatal HIV testing among mothers in Kenya.

"It has been estimated that without interventions such as those supported by PEPFAR in Kenya, about 35% of children will be infected with HIV before birth, after birth, or during badfeeding," Spiegelman said. "Preventing HIV infection in these children is essential for large-scale HIV prevention and the end of the global AIDS epidemic." – by Katherine Bortz

Reference:

Spiegelman D, et al. Abstract 329908. Presented at: 2018 Joint Statistical Meetings of the American Statistical Association; July 28-August 2, 2018; Vancouver, British Columbia.

ONE: Red ribbon or white flag? – The future of the global AIDS response in the United States. https://www.one.org/us/2017/11/29/aids-report-2017/ . Accessed July 26, 2018.

Disclosure: Spiegelman reports no relevant financial disclosure.

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