Results of early detection of HIV infection among infants under 18 months and some related factors in the South of Vietnam from Thua Thien - Hue, 2022

Abstract

An updated National Guidelines on HIV care and treatment which has been realeased by The Vietnamese Ministry of Health aims to support the national target to eliminate motherto-child HIV transmission (MTCT) by 2030. One significant aspect of this guideline is the strong emphasis on early infant diagnosis (EID) of HIV infection among children under 18 months of age, particularly within the first 2 days of life by using nucleic-acid-testing (NAT) employing molecular techniques. This survey collected data obtained from the EID of HIV infection in children under 18 months of age, aligning with the updated guidelines. The primary objective of this retrospective, crosssectional, descriptive studywas to describethe results of early detection of HIV infection and factors that may be associated among infants under 18 months in South of Vietnam from Thua Thien - Hue, 2022. In 2022, a total of 893 dried blood spot (DBS) specimens were collected for EID tests from Thua Thien - Hue to Southern provinces. Out of those, 26 (2.9%) children were positive with HIV-1 using the real-time PCR technique. The prevalence of HIV-1 infection among children under 18 months of age varied based on the level of preventive actions: 0.7% for those who received adequate prevention, 5.4% for those with incomplete prevention, and 42.3% (p<0.001) for those without any intervention. Factors associated with the MTCT of HIV include the full or partial participation in a program to prevent MTCT of HIV ((OR57,7 (21,6 -154,1)), the timing of the child’s diagnosis (OR12,1 (3,8- 38,2)), and the timing of the mother’s HIV infection onset (OR46,8 (14,4-151)).