Program seeks Council approval for an initiative entitled “US Children with Perinatal HIV who were Born Internationally”. Despite declining rates of domestic mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV, there have been increasing numbers of diagnosed HIV infection among children who acquired HIV from their mothers (subsequently described as children with perinatal HIV) and live in, but were born outside of, the US. A report recently published (JAIDS. 2018 Jan 1;77(1):23-30) describes rates of foreign-born children with perinatal HIV surpassing those from children with perinatal HIV born in the US consistently since 2011.
Reflecting the recency of this new data, no research has been funded in this area. However, unique characteristics and presentations of illnesses make caring for these foreign-born children and adolescents very challenging. There are epidemiologic, diagnostic and management knowledge gaps for clinical care and treatment, not only of HIV, but also of its co-occurring illnesses and conditions.
The goal of this initiative is to stimulate research on this area of emerging public health significance and improve understanding of the natural history (disease course of different HIV clades; co-infections; opportunistic infections), epidemiology (geography; clades; resistance patterns), diagnosis (testing strategies/methods; entry to HIV care continuum & psychosocial / structural factors) and management (retention in care; treatment of HIV, co-infections & co-morbidities; viral suppression) of HIV and co-morbid conditions among US children who were born internationally and acquired HIV from their mothers.
This proposed concept aligns with the NICHD Vision areas of Behavior and Environment.
This proposed concept aligns with the MPIDB research priority on Improving the health of HIV-infected children and adolescents and addresses the overarching HIV/AIDS priorities of a) HIV-associated comorbidities, coinfections, and complications, b) next generation of HIV therapies with better safety and ease of use, and c) cross-cutting areas: health disparities, behavior and social science research, training and information dissemination.
Program Contact
Bill Kapogiannis
Maternal and Pediatric Infectious Disease Branch (MPIDB)
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