A new hope

Medical programs are helping HIV-infected women give birth to healthy babies. Liu Zhihua investigates the challenges facing these new mothers and their families.

Holding her 1-year-old daughter in her arms, 20-year-old Xiao Mei is all smiles. The baby girl is the only child free from HIV/AIDS in her family of four in Zhumadian, Henan province, thanks to a government-subsidized program that provides pregnant women with free treatment to block mother-to-child transmission. "I cannot express in words how happy I feel now," Xiao says. "I always wanted a baby, but was extremely worried that I would give HIV to the child."

Xiao was infected from a blood transfusion as a young child. Her husband, also 20, was born with HIV, and his father died from AIDS.