Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission of HIV: Single Centre Experience of 14 years at Tertiary Care Hospital in Delhi, India.

INTRODUCTION: Prevention of Parent To Child Transmission (PPTCT) of HIV/AIDS is an integral component of AIDS control programme. PPTCT is an ongoing programme since last 15 years.

AIM: The aim of the study was to evaluate the reduction in the burden of disease in newborn and infants by prevention of parents to child transmission of HIV/AIDS.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted at Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in a tertiary care hospital of Delhi from May 2002 to May 2015. The data was collected from records of maternal details registered at PPTCT clinic as well as list of infants undergoing Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) recorded in the standard format as per instructions from National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) of India. The Programme performance was assessed against performance indicators stated by NACO, India.

RESULTS: Evaluation was done by dividing study period into two halves of seven years each. Out of 2,52,447 new antenatal case registration, overall, 43% received pretest of which, 91% were tested. Antenatal seropositivity rate varied from 0.1%-0.25%. Of 243 seropositive antenatal women 187 partners tested positive. While 25 women opted for MTP, 15 had still births. There were 17 neonatal deaths at 3-12 months attributable to respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases. Operative delivery rates declined from 50% to 31% over the years. Most women opted for breast feeding. The lost to follow up rate of newborns was quite high with details of only 43.5% being available at 18 months of infant's age. A total of three infants tested HIV positive at 18 months of age.

CONCLUSION: The study highlights the practical aspects of policy implementation and operational issues involved in low resource country.