**1. Introduction**

[56] Marshall C, Rossman G., (eds). Designing qualitative research. Newbury Park, CA:

50 Trends in Basic and Therapeutic Options in HIV Infection - Towards a Functional Cure

Sage; 1989.

In the eight Millennium Development Goals, the World Health Organization proposed the improvement of HIV/AIDS epidemiological rates worldwide through disease prevention and treatment as a goal to achieve in 2015. Reaching the virtual worldwide eradication of vertical transmission (prevention of mother-to-child transmission [PMTCT]) is among such goals.

This chapter will address topics related mainly to diagnostic and therapeutic aspects that have been proven to be useful in the prevention of HIV vertical transmission (VT). The aim is to provide the reader with a clinical guideline for the management of an HIV(+) pregnant woman based on levels of evidence, grading of recommendation, and experts' opinions and to individualize those healthcare strategies that have demonstrated to be effective in the reduc‐ tion of HIV vertical transmission. Such achievement will highlight the importance of ordering an HIV test to all pregnant women during prenatal control visit. The latter, in case of carrier status, will help to decrease viral load in HIV(+) mothers to undetectable or almost undetect‐ able levels. It will also enable the formulation of a management strategy based on clinical and laboratory parameters, with the use of the most adequate pharmacological management, thus decreasing exposure of the newborn of an HIV(+) mother, to blood, genital secretions, or amniotic fluid, and to identify the best opportunity to program delivery and termination of breastfeeding.

This Clinical Guideline is intended for midwives, medical students, gynecology and obstetrics fellows/residents, maternal-fetal medicine fellows/residents, obstetricians serving at level 2 and 3 hospitals, and specialists in maternal-fetal medicine, who aim at updating their knowl‐ edge on the diagnosis and management of gestations affected by HIV/AIDS.

All the aforementioned will bring insights on why healthcare strategies intended to prevent fetal infection have become a paradigm of perinatal medicine since the application of such

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biomedical interventions has been proven to be successful in the prevention of HIV transmis‐ sion from an infected pregnant woman to her child, decreasing risk levels to 2%, as observed in the United States.
