LETTER HIV

testing in pregnancy In their community-based survey from Northern Malawi, Price et al1 found that 90 % of 395 women were tested for HIV during their pregnancy. In September 2013, for a medical student elective project, we con-ducted a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of antenatal HIV screening in consecutive women attending the maternity unit at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana. The response rate was 78 % (152/195). The mean age of responders was 29 years (range 14–45) and they had an average of two children each (range 0–8). Of the 152 women, 132 (87%) said they had been tested for HIV during their pregnancy and 96 (63%) said they had also been tested for HIV before this. Less than half (42%, 64) said their partner had ever been tested for HIV. The high uptake of HIV screening during pregnancy in our study was similar to the findings of Price et al. However, reported rates in male partners were disap-pointing. The United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS aims to make HIV screening accessible to as many people as possible. High uptake of HIV testing during preg-nancy could reduce vertical transmission2 and contribute to the Millennium Development goals for 2015.