Ten states in India, including Maharashtra, West Bengal and Gujarat, accounted for over three-fourth of the total Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV cases in the country in 2017, the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) said Friday.
India is estimated to have had around 22,677 HIV-positive women who gave birth in 2017 and needed treatment for PMTCT of HIV, a report issued by NACO said.
The PMTCT need was highest in Maharashtra, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.
"Together, these 10 states contribute almost three fourth of the total PMTCT need in the country," said the report, adding that elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is one of the critical targets.
Current estimations show that the rate of elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is within striking distance of the target -- 95 per cent coverage by 2020 -- in many states/UTs, with a national PMTCT coverage of 60 per cent in 2016-17, the report said.
However, major challenges remain and these must be urgently addressed, especially in states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana, where the PMTCT coverage is significantly lower than the national average, it said.
Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT, also known as prevention of vertical transmission), refers to interventions to prevent transmission of HIV from an HIV-positive mother to her infant during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or breastfeeding.
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