Antenatal maternal HIV diagnosis is of importance in -

HIV infection can be transmitted from an infected mother to her fetus during pregnancy, during delivery, or by breastfeeding. The relative proportions of mother-to-child transmissions were 23–30% before birth, 50–65% during birth, and 12–20% via breastfeeding. Treatment of an HIV-infected mother with nevirapine during pregnancy and the infant during the first weeks following birth has proved very effective in dramatically decreasing mother-to-child transmission of HIV