Within the Fund’s mandate for HIV prevention, UNFPA’s strategic focus is in three core areas: HIV prevention among young people, HIV prevention among pregnant women and comprehensive condom programming.

In line with this strategic focus, this programme brief outlines the importance of and actions for the prevention of HIV infection in pregnant women, which in turn prevents transmission of HIV to their infants and partners. UNFPA’s primary goal in this area is to ensure that HIV prevention among pregnant women remain high on the political agenda and as a priority for action.

The important and proven role of voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) as an entry point for prevention, including among pregnant women, will be covered in a future programme brief and is only referenced in this issue.

We must also realize that anti-retrovirals (ARVs) for all pregnant women is not yet a reality. And thus, given UNFPA’s mandate focusing on prevention in the context of reproductive health, provision of ARVs must be referred to other partners involved in preventing mother-to child-transmission (MTCT) as well as those providing ARVs to women for their own sake.