It's a worrying question for health officials in one of the richest and most developed areas of the African continent: Why are babies being born with HIV when free medication is available to prevent mother-to-child transmission? In the first half of this year, 232 babies were born with HIV in South Africa's Gauteng region, which includes Johannesburg and the capital of Pretoria and is home to at least 15 million people. "We do still find it very concerning that in this day and age, with all the preventative programs that's available free of charge at our clinics, that we are still finding babies testing positive," said Melanie Langeveldt, the director for primary health care programs in Tshwane, which includes Pretoria. Mother-to-child transmission of HIV globally remains a concern for UNAIDS, which estimates there are 120,000 new infections annually in children aged 14 years and younger around the world, while over 1.
3 million children are living with HIV. South Africa has one of the highest rates of HIV in the world . About 12.
7% of its population, or about 7.9 million people, live with HIV. The country has about 150,000 new infections every year.
Pregnant women in South Africa can access HIV testing and antiretroviral therapy free of charge from health facilities . It is not clear why the more than 200 pregnant women across Gauteng didn't take advantage of the services this year, or why 211 women in the second half of last year didn't either. Data from South Africa's other.