The number of women diagnosed with HIV during pregnancy after voluntary testing has declined over a four-year period, a report published today said.
The voluntary test can help prevent women passing the virus to their babies and also allows them access HIV medication and treatment to manage the virus.
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) report, shows that voluntary ante-natal HIV testing in Ireland identified 290 previously unknown cases of HIV in pregnant women, in the years from 2002 to 2005. The number of positive tests decreased from 113 in 2002 to 94 in 2003, to 40 in 2004 and was up slightly to 43 in 2005.
HPSC specialist in public health Dr Aidan O'Hora said that early detection of HIV in pregnant women can dramatically reduce or prevent transmission from mother to child.
"Studies report that the combined effects of interventions can reduce transmission from 15 - 35 per cent to 2 per cent or less and because measures to prevent mother to child transmission can only be offered if infection is diagnosed before childbirth, early detection is vital," he said.
"HIV prevalence among women who availed of antenatal screening ranged from 0.25 per cent and 0.31 per cent between 2002 and 2005, which is roughly in line with the European average.
The number of cases newly diagnosed through antenatal screening decreased from 113 in 2002 to 94 in 2003, 40 in 2004 and 43 in 2005, which mirrors the trend seen in the national HIV case based reporting system," Dr O'Hora said.
"The objectives of HIV testing during pregnancy are to identify women who are HIV positive so that they can avail of appropriate treatment and care, to decrease the incidence of mother to child transmission and to prevent the transmission of HIV to sexual partners of pregnant women."
A HIV-infected mother can transmit the virus to her baby during pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding.
It has been clearly shown that mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of the virus can be dramatically reduced or prevented by treatment of mother and child, management of the delivery and avoidance of breastfeeding, according to the HPSC.
The Department of Health and Children (DoHC), on the advice of the National AIDS Strategy Committee (NASC), introduced a policy of voluntary antenatal HIV testing in Ireland eight years ago.
It is recommended that antenatal screening for HIV be offered routinely to all pregnant women.