Hong Kong will provide free HIV tests for all pregnant women as from next month to prevent the transmission of the virus from mother to child, reported the South China Morning Post today.
“Universal” HIV screening of pregnant women would begin on September 1, but women could choose not to have the test, the English-language daily quoted a Department of Health spokesman as saying.
Testing will be free at the department’s 50 maternal and child health centers and at 11 antenatal clinics provided by obstetrics and gynecology units of the Hospital Authority, said the spokesman.
The women will be asked on their first prenatal visit if they are willing to be tested for HIV, on top of the standard blood tests for hepatitis B, syphilis and rubella.
The scientific committee of the Advisory Council on AIDS said last month that mother-to-child transmission is now the single most important mode of HIV infection in children in Hong Kong.
So far, 13 babies have been born HIV-positive in Hong Kong from infected mothers, reported the newspaper.
(eastday.com 08/15/2001)
