Early infant testing coverage
Percent of HIV-exposed infants born within the last 12 months who received an HIV test within 2 months of birth
Number of infants who received virological testing in the first 2 months of life.
Infants should be counted only once. The numerator should include the initial test but not any subsequent tests. In addition, infants lost to follow-up by 12 months should be reported.
Estimated number of HIV-infected pregnant women giving birth in the preceding 12 months.
This is a proxy measure for the number of infants born to HIV-infected women.
Test result.
Efforts should be made to include all public, private, and NGO-run health facilities that provide HIV testing for HIV-exposed infants.
Countries should also collect and evaluate data on the number of infants not assessed as a result of loss to follow-up, by 12 months, including deaths.
The numerator is calculated from national program records compiled from data collected in registers at facilities. The number of infants tested, rather than the number of tests performed, should be counted, since many infants may be tested multiple times.
Facility records
Infants infected with HIV during pregnancy, delivery, or early postpartum often die before they are recognized as having HIV infection. PAHO/WHO recommends that national programs be created to establish the capacity to provide early virological testing of infants for HIV and guide clinical decision making at the earliest possible stage. In instances in which virological testing is not available, initial antibody testing at 9 to 12 months is recommended to identify negative cases.
This indicator allows countries to monitor progress in providing early HIV testing to HIV-exposed infants, a critical tool for appropriate follow-up care and treatment.
A low value of this indicator could signal health system weaknesses, including poor country-level management of supplies of HIV test kits, poor data collection, and mismanagement of testing samples.
Ideally, the indicator captures infants born to known HIV-infected women, but it may not be feasible in some settings to exclude infants tested for HIV using virological or antibody testing through provider-initiated testing in pediatric wards, malnutrition centers, and other sites where infants may be identified as exposed to or infected with HIV.
Pediatric care, PMTCT, HIV care, HIV counseling and testing, Child health
World Health Organization (WHO). 2015 Global Reference List of 100 Core Health Indicators.; 2015. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/173589/1/WHO_HIS_HSI_2015.3_eng.pdf
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Regional Initiative for the Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV and Congenital Syphilis in Latin America and the Caribbean. Washington, D.C.:; 2010. https://www.unicef.org/lac/Regional_Monitoring_Strategy.pdf
