A child can become infected during pregnancy, during birth or after birth through breastfeeding. If infected mothers do not breastfeed their children, most infections are transmitted in late pregnancy before birth or during birth. An HIV or AIDS infection is difficult to identify in children because numerous symptoms, e.g. diarrhoea, are also present in uninfected children. Infection must therefore be identified by laboratory examinations. Since a child's blood initially contains a mother's HIV antibodies, the identification of these by ordinary laboratory examinations is reliable only when a child is 15 months old or older.  Infection can be confirmed earlier by the use of more sophisticated laboratory examinations (e.g. polymerase chain reaction – PCR).

What to do in the event of family planning and simultaneous suspected HIV infection?