Paper short abstract:

Angola is one of the priority countries of the "Global Plan towards the Elimination of new HIV infections among Children by 2015". Latest data suggest PMTCT coverage is weak and the progress towards the goals of the Global Plan may be compromised.

Paper long abstract:

Despite having an estimated HIV prevalence in adults of 2.1% [1.5%-3.2%], which is much lower than its neighbours Zambia (12.5%) and Namibia (13.4%), Angola was ranked among the twenty two countries with the highest estimated number of pregnant women living with HIV. Ten years after the end of the civil war, Angola still has a weak health structure and strong inequalities regarding access to health care, particularly to HIV treatment. Since the adoption of the PACTG 076 protocol in 2004, the creation of Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT) services was remarkable and the number of women accessing antenatal care has increased in the last six years. However, PMTCT programme coverage is still very limited, with only 16% of pregnant women living with HIV and 17% of children born to HIV-positive mothers receiving antiretrovirals for PMTCT. As a result, latest data from UNAIDS suggest that the number of new HIV infections among children may have increased in Angola in 2011, which may compromise the attainment of the "Global Plan towards the Elimination of new HIV infections among Children by 2015 and keeping their Mothers Alive" as well as the Millennium Development Goals. Strong efforts to scale up PMTCT services and improve access of women and their children to effective treatment will need to be made.