Maternal-Pediatric HIV Prevention and Care Program

Perinatal HIV Prevention Program

Mission

The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH), AIDS Institute’s Perinatal HIV Prevention Program (PHPP) mission is to improve the overall health of women living with HIV (WLWH) and their families and to support ending the HIV epidemic (ETE) through sustaining the elimination of perinatal HIV transmission in New York State (NYS).

This is accomplished through a comprehensive public health approach which includes:

Prevention

  • Improve the quality and accessibility of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care including pre- and inter-pregnancy care
  • Promote pre-exposure prophylaxis and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP/PEP) and prevention services prior to conception and during pregnancy and breast/chest-feeding
  • Promote partner services
  • Facilitate early prenatal care with universal opt-out HIV testing at the first prenatal visit and repeat HIV testing in the third trimester

Access to care and treatment

  • Address health disparities and ensure health equity across the full spectrum of reproductive health
  • Provide rapid initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for those newly diagnosed with HIV for maternal health and for the prevention of partner and vertical transmission
  • Support maintenance on ART for those with chronic HIV infection
  • Ensure infants exposed to HIV receive appropriate and timely diagnostic HIV testing and care

Monitoring and quality improvement

  • Provide regulatory oversight of NYS birth facilities regarding NYS Public Health Law (PHL) and NYSDOH regulations which govern HIV testing and care for pregnant and postpartum people and their infants
  • Provide education, capacity building, and technical assistance to prenatal and pediatric providers and birth facilities
  • Perform comprehensive reviews of perinatal HIV-related sentinel events such as:
    • HIV-exposed births
    • Acute HIV infection acquired during pregnancy and postpartum, with or without perinatal HIV transmission
    • Perinatal HIV transmissions
  • Coordinate with NYSDOH programs including, but not limited to, the Wadsworth Center's Newborn Screening Program and Bloodborne Viruses Laboratory/Pediatric HIV Testing Service and the AIDS Institute's Bureau of HIV/AIDS Epidemiology to ensure WLWH, birth parents, and their infants are receiving appropriate and timely care through navigation and linkage
  • Collaborate with state and national partners to ensure implementation of standards of care and best practices including the NYS Clinical Guidelines Program and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Elimination of Perinatal HIV Transmission Stakeholders Group.

New York State Success in the Elimination of Perinatal HIV Transmission

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines elimination by the following annual criteria: (1) a perinatal HIV transmission rate of less than 1% among HIV-exposed infants, and (2) less than 1 transmission per 100,000 live births.

NYS met the criteria for elimination of perinatal HIV transmission in 2013, and 2015-2021.

Year Total Live Births Total HIV-Exposed Infants Total PHT Cases PHT Rate1 PHT Cases/100,000 Live Births
19972 256,976 957 99 11.3 38.52
2010 242,914 509 3 0.6 1.24
2011 239,736 515 6 1.3 2.5
2012 239,224 446 3 0.7 1.25
2013 235,274 461 2 0.5 0.85
2014 238,000 435 3 0.8 1.26
2015 235,964 405 0 0.0 0.0
2016 233,372 428 2 0.5 0.86
2017 227,453 408 1 0.3 0.44
2018 226,903 343 0 0.0 0.0
2019 222,396 359 2 0.6 0.90
2020 209,098 343 1 0.3 0.48
2021 211,525 306 2 0.7 0.95

1Excludes infants with indeterminate status. 2HIV screening of newborn infants initiated in February 1997. Data for 1997 are February - December.

Contact:

For general inquiries, please email phpp@health.ny.gov or call (518) 486-6806

Suzanne Kaufman, MPH, BSN, RN, AACRN
Director, Perinatal HIV Prevention Program
Division of HIV and Hepatitis Health Care

Lisa Haskin, B.S., R.N.
Program Coordinator, Perinatal HIV Prevention Program
Division of HIV and Hepatitis Health Care