INTRODUCTION
A significant number of children in Africa are
affected by morbidity and mortality associated to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). By the end of 2010, 34 million people were living with HIV/AIDS around the world, of whom about 3.4 million were children under 15 years. More than 95% of all HIVinfected children are living in Africa, and most of them have acquired HIV through mother-to-child transmission. Ethiopia is one of the countries severely hit by the epidemic and vertical virus transmission from mother to child accounts for more than 90% of pediatric AIDS. In the absence of interventions, the transmission rates can reach 40% in breastfeeding populations like Ethiopia. The mother-to-child transmission rate has declined substantially in the last few years in countries where interventions aimed at reducing the risk have been implemented. Rates fewer than 2% have been reported consistently where there has been antiretroviral (ARV) prophylaxis during pregnancy, delivery, and the neonatal period, elective caesarean section at delivery, and no breastfeeding. However, prevention of mother-tochild transmission of HIV remains a challenge in majority of resource-limited settings, particularly in Africa, where neonatal nutrition fully relies on breast feeding and elective caesarean section is routinely done for every woman. According to the 2011 UNAIDs update only 26% of
pregnant women under go HIV test in Ethiopia and estimated coverage with the most effective regimens according to WHO recommendations in Eastern and Southern Africa is still low. Different extensive studies and clinical trials has been done on the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV in majority of developed and developing countries