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Malaria linked to increase in HIV-positive babies

    JOHANNESBURG

    A Ugandan study has suggested that women infected with malaria and HIV are more likely to pass the HI virus to their unborn babies.

    The study, conducted among 746 HIV-positive women, found that babies became HIV-positive in 40 percent of cases where the mother also had malaria, compared to 15 percent in cases where the mother was free of malaria.

    The lead author of the report, Heena Brahmbhatt, was quoted by the BBC as saying: "Our findings show that co-infection with placental malaria and HIV during pregnancy significantly increases the risk of HIV transmission from mother to newborn."

    Brahmbhatt and her colleagues called for urgent trials to determine whether controlling malaria in HIV-positive women reduced transmission rates to babies.

    Research shows that transmission of HIV from mother to child is one of the main ways that HIV is spread in Africa.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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