Without timely diagnosis and treatment, HIV can be transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding. Although effective interventions exist, gaps in service delivery, limited access to testing and treatment, and weak follow-up systems continued to place thousands of infants at risk.

Strengthening the continuum of care—from antenatal services through postnatal follow-up—was essential to reducing new paediatric HIV infections and improving maternal and child health outcomes.