Zambia Nears Elimination Of Mother To Child HIV Transmission

Zambia is within reach of eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV, according to new national estimates.

The transmission rate has fallen from 34.4 per cent in 2005 to 6.12 per cent in 2025, a reduction of more than four fifths over two decades. The figure now sits just above the 5 per cent threshold the World Health Organization sets for elimination.

The number of children living with HIV has fallen in step, dropping from 187,000 in 2005 to 59,000 in 2025.

Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary for Technical Services Dr Kennedy Lishimpi said the remaining gap, though narrow, would be the hardest to close.

Speaking at the presentation of the 2025 HIV Spectrum Estimates in Lusaka, Dr Lishimpi said reaching the target depends on three areas of delivery: getting more expectant mothers into antenatal care, diagnosing exposed infants faster, and keeping mothers and babies in treatment programmes once they have started.

Retention is the pressure point. A mother who begins treatment and later drops out of care carries a risk to her child that early testing alone cannot address, and it is in that follow through that the last percentage points are usually won or lost.