This speech suggests a variety of ways in which children can be protected from HIV infections in resource-poor countries. The author uses examples from India and Thailand to personalize the issues and indicate the nature and extent of the problem and its solutions. The author identified the first case of HIV infection in India. Today, an estimated 20,800-117,600 infants are born each year with HIV. The costs of treating pregnant women with AZT must include laboratory testing in a voluntary counseling system, affordable counseling services, and awareness campaigns for preventing transmission from mother to child. Culture imposes obligations to have many children. Psychosocial support is needed to reinforce appropriate reproductive decision-making. There is a need to assist the care of children living with HIV and to provide care for children surviving parents who died of HIV/AIDS. Safe blood supplies for anemic mothers at birth reduce infection. Reduction of fetal transmission can occur with use of anti-retrovirals, use of vitamin and mineral supplements, and diagnosis and treatment of malaria among pregnant women. Research needs to examine ways to prevent transmission to infants from breast milk. Blood safety programs would reduce the 8

作者：S, Solomon

来源：Integration (Tokyo, Japan) 1998 年 57期