Introduction the HIV-free survival rate is the gold-standard measure of the effectiveness of interventions towards prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in any setting. However, data on HIV-free survival among the HIV-exposed infants followed up in most low-resource settings are lacking. We determined the HIV-free survival among breastfed infants in two tertiary facilities in a resource-poor setting in northern Uganda. Methods we conducted a retrospective cohort study in May 2019 and retrospectively reviewed records of HIV-exposed infants registered in 2014 through 2016 at two tertiary facilities in northern Uganda. We analyzed data using SPSS v16 software package. The chi-square and Student t-tests were used to compare factors among infant groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine factors independently associated with HIV-free survival. P-value <0.05 was considered for statistical significance. Results majority of the infants were males 55.6% (203/365) and 98.6% (360/365) received nevirapine prophylaxis. A total of 345 (94.5%) infants were exclusively breastfed, only 100/345 (29.0%) of whom were exclusively breastfed for at least 6 months, while the breastfeeding status of 44/345 (12.8 %) infants could not be ascertained. The overall HIV-free survival rate was 93.7% (342/365), while 2.7% (10/365) were HIV-infected and 3.6% (13/365) died. Infants´ age at enrolment in care (aOR 5.20, p=0.008) and treatment facility (aOR 3.76, p=0.027) were the independent determinants of HIV-free survival. Conclusion the HIV-free survival rate among the breastfed infants in the study setting marginally falls short of the recommended standard, thus calling for more efforts to improve survival.

Background Without interventions, the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is up to 25% during pregnancy, labour and delivery with an additional risk of 5-20% during breastfeeding period, leading to an overall rate of up to 45%. Giving anti-retroviral therapy to the mother and anti-retroviral prophylaxis to the infant has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of HIV transmission through breastfeeding to less than 5%. According to the World Health Organization standard, the effectiveness of interventions towards prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in any setting is measured by its HIV-free survival rate. We therefore carried out a study aimed at determining the HIV-free survival among breastfed infants in a resource poor setting in relation breastfeeding duration. Methods A cross-sectional retrospective study using routine clinical data and involving 365 HIV exposed infants followed up in two tertiary facilities in northern Uganda between 2014 and 2016. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Scientists version 16 software package. Results Of the three hundred and sixty five (365) infants sampled for this study, 86.8% (317/365) were enrolled within the first 2 months of life, 12.1% (44/365) between 3-12 months of age and 1.1% (4/365) enrolled after 12 months of age. Almost all the infants (98.4%) were initiated on Nevirapine prophylaxis, 97.5% (356/365) of whom were initiated within 72 hours. The overall HIV-free survival rate in the current study was 93.7% (342/365), while 6.3% (23/365) were either HIV-infected (2.7%) or died (3.6%). The infants’ age at enrolment was the single most important factor significantly associated with HIV-free survival. The overall duration of breastfeeding did not significantly affect the HIV-free survival: 98.1% (304/310) for children breastfed > 12 months versus 100% (15/15) for those breastfed ≤12 months, though exclusive breastfeeding for at least 6 months was protective. Conclusions Adherence to current approaches to prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV with support to breastfeeding in low income countries can greatly enhance HIV-free survival for breastfed infants, and supports the current infant and young child feeding recommendations. Key words: HIV-free survival, Mother-to-child transmission, Breastfeeding, Antiretroviral therapy

Background: Without interventions, the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is 25% during pregnancy, labour and delivery with an additional risk of 5-20% during the breastfeeding, leading to an overall risk of 45%. The effectiveness of interventions towards prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in any setting is measured by its HIV-free survival rate. We carried out a study to determine the HIV-free survival among breastfed infants enrolled by 2 months of age in a resource-poor setting. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of early infant diagnosis registers at two tertiary facilities in northern Uganda and retrospectively reviewed records of exposed infants enrolled from 2014 to 2016. We used simple random sampling and analyzed data using SPSS v16 software package. The chi-square and Student t-tests were used to compare factors among HIV-free survivors (HIV-uninfected and alive at 18 months) and those who became HIV-infected or died. Multivariate analysis using logistic regression was used to determine the factors that were independently associated with HIV-free survival. Odds ratios with 95% confidence interval were used to measure the strength of association between the outcome and predictor variables. P-value <0.05 was considered for statistical significanceResults: The mean age at enrolment of the 317 infants was 1.57 (SD 0.23), majority of whom were males 55.5% (176/317). All except two infants were initiated on Nevirapine prophylaxis. Less than one third, 29.3% (93/317) of the infants were exclusively breastfed for at least 6 months, while the breastfeeding status of 30 infants could not be ascertained. The overall HIV-free survival rate in the current study was 94.6% (300/317), while 2.5% (8/317) were HIV-infected and 2.8% (9/317) died. Gender and treatment facility were the factors independently significantly associated with HIV-free survival. Conclusions: Our study estimates that the HIV-free survival rate in the study setting for breastfed infants enrolled by 2 months of age was 94.6%, below the WHO goal of >95% HIV-free rate in breastfeeding population for virtual elimination of HIV. A further prospective study would be necessary to assess a more accurate HIV-free survival rate given the limitations of retrospective data.