Hanoi has offered preventive care and medical interventions to all HIV-positive pregnant women in an attempt to minimise mother-to-child transmission.

According to Director of the Hanoi HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Centre La Nhan Thuan, all pregnant HIV-positive women were referred to Ha Dong General Hospital and the National Hospital of Pediatrics for Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing, the test used to diagnose HIV, and all cases came back with negative results, meaning that the virus has not been transmitted to their unborn children.

The capital is providing preventive care for HIV-positive pregnant women at Tu Liem Resident Clinic and the Hanoi Obstetrics and Gynaecology Hospital, as well as clinics in all of the city’s districts.

During the first ten months of 2014, as many as 168,497 pregnant women sought medical advice and took HIV tests. Over 30,000 women were tested for HIV during labour.

To date, the city has 21 non-resident clinics that can accommodate HIV/AIDS patients, eight social work, education and treatment centers, and a detention centre that offer AVR treatment for HIV – carried prisoners.

However, preventing mother-to- child transmission faces a number of obstacles, due to a lack of knowledge on sexually transmitted diseases, even in hospitals and healthcare facilities.

In an attempt to control mother-to-child transmission of HIV, the city aims to guarantee that 100 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women make use of the preventive care services.-VNA