Background
Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV occurs when an HIV-positive woman passes the virus to her child during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding. It accounts for over 90% of HIV-related infections in infants and young children, and over 10% of HIV infections worldwide. Also, more than 90% of HIV-infected children worldwide are found in this sub-region of Africa supported by UNAID which shows that out of 150,000 children (0-14 years) newly infected in 2019, 126,000 (84%) live in sub-Saharan Africa.
Cameroon, like most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, has been facing the HIV pandemic since the 1980s. This pandemic, which emerged in 1985, led the country to implement a series of initiatives that have significantly reduced the impact of the disease within the population. Indeed, the HIV prevalence rate decreased from 5.4% in 2004 to 2.7% in 2018. However, the progress remains slow, and HIV prevalence is still high, placing Cameroon at the top among countries in the Central and West Africa (CWA) region bearing the burden of the epidemic, ahead of Nigeria. Despite the progress made in the fight against the HIV epidemic, the country remains in a context of a mixed epidemic (both generalized and concentrated).
In this context, a prevention and care guide for HIV/AIDS in Cameroon has been developed to advance the country’s health policies and meet the 95-95-95 strategy goals.