Mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection is on the increase in the Ashanti region, Regional AIDS Coordinator, Dr. Thomas Agyarko Poku has said. He said the prevalence rate is alarming. According to him, two thousand pregnant women were recorded to be HIV-positive, out of about 77 thousand mothers tested in the region last year. Infection occurs during pregnancy, labour, delivery and breastfeeding. Dr. Agyarko Poku told Luv FM a vast majority of the pregnant women stand the chance of transferring the disease to their babies. He is concerned that the women they have identified as carrying the virus may not deliver at the health centres where they are receiving treatment and that will increase of the babies because measures will not be put in place to protect the babies. He however says mother-to-child transmission is preventable when medical services are available and infected women follow doctors’ advice. Infant infection of HIV is a key concern of the Ghana Health Service, which has set the goal of reducing prevalence by 50 percent in 2011. Source: Joy News/Ghana