HIV screening for pregnant women is currently available in the Waikato region, and will be routinely offered nationwide by June 2008. Dr Graham Mills, the team leader for the Waikato programme, says antenatal HIV screening benefits everyone.

"We can improve the lives of not just the baby, but also the mother, and the whole community. Once we identify an HIV positive mother, we can take steps to minimise the risk of HIV being transmitted to the baby, and help the mother stay healthier in the longer term. We can also undertake contact tracing to identify the source of the mother's infection and to ascertain whether HIV infection has been passed on to other individuals. As a result, further transmission is likely to be halted."

From March 2006, it has been recommended to all pregnant women in the Waikato having their first antenatal blood test that they be tested for six conditions, rather than five. Those tests are for full blood count, Rhesus factor and antibodies, Syphilis, Hepatitis B and Rubella - and HIV.

Dr Mills says 99.2 percent of pregnant women seen since the March changes had their blood tested for all six conditions.

"Why would anyone not want to have an HIV test? It is far better to know if you have HIV because you can prevent your baby from getting it. And in addition, the mother can have her HIV treated much earlier - if HIV is not picked up early people often go through a long period of severe illness before being diagnosed."

Since screening began in the Waikato, one pregnant woman has been diagnosed as being HIV positive.

"Already, within the first six months of the programme, we will have  greatly improved the quality and length of life for one baby - and for one mother."

While HIV is uncommon among New Zealand women, the numbers with HIV are increasing. If you have HIV you can pass the virus to your baby before or during childbirth, or by breastfeeding.

"The chance of babies becoming infected can be reduced to less that 1 percent with a combination of treatments. Currently this includes medication for mother and baby, sometimes the recommendation of a caesarean section delivery, and using alternatives to breastfeeding."

Dr Mills says it is important that HIV testing of pregnant women is 'normalised' as just another part of antenatal care, and he and his team have worked closely with antenatal care providers in Waikato to ensure the importance of testing pregnant women for HIV is fully understood.

He says national implementation of antenatal HIV screening in New Zealand cannot come soon enough.

"Implementation in the Waikato has gone extremely smoothly, with almost 100 percent buy-in. We have been going since March 2006, and have no evidence of harm arising from the routine offer of HIV testing in pregnancy.

"The sooner the programme can be extended to other areas, the sooner we can protect other babies from contracting HIV."

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