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HIV in the UK: facts and statisticsHIV is one of the fastest growing serious health conditions in the UK. There are now more people living with HIV in the UK than ever before, over a quarter of whom don’t know they have the virus. |  |
Mother to baby transmission
Rates of HIV transmission from women to their babies in the UK are low. In 2010 just 1.5% of new HIV diagnoses in the UK were cases of mother-to-child transmission - that's 102 children born with HIV in 2010. This figure was as high as 12% in 1999.
In the previous five years, 270 infants were infected at birth, just 2% of all babies born to HIV infected mothers. Around 70% of these babies were born to mothers who were undiagnosed.
Antenatal screening, treatment to block transmission, avoiding breastfeeding, and elective Caesarean delivery have all dramatically reduced the number of new cases diagnosed. Using all these methods, the chances of a woman with HIV having a baby that is HIV negative have increased dramatically and are now over 99% in general and 99.9% for women on successful anti-retroviral treatment with an undetectable viral load.
There are just under 1,500 people infected at birth receiving HIV care in the UK.
More information
You can read more about how babies can get HIV from their mothers, and how this risk can be lowered, elsewhere on our website.
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