UK experts recommend antenatal HIV screening:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
A working party of UK healthcare specialists has recommended that HIV testing should be offered to pregnant women as part of standard antenatal care. The party, made up of members from the Royal Colleges of Nursing, Paediatrics and Child Health, Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and General Practitioners said that in areas where the disease was prevalent, such as Greater London, it should be obligatory for clinics to offer women the test. Pregnant women are already routinely checked for hepatitis B, syphilis and rubella. Each year in the UK, some 300 babies are born to HIV-infected mothers, 70% of whom are unaware of their HIV status.