In the past 2 decades, prevention of HIV/AIDS epidemic became a real challenge for the field of public health. Since there is no effective cure for this condition and current treatments are not accessible to everybody, preventing the infection in the first place is the best way to avoid excessive morbidity and mortality due to AIDS.

Countries that had achieved low infant mortality <50/1000 such as Zimbabwe and Botswana related to antenatal care services, oral rehydration, safe water and immunization programs are seeing the most negative impact with 4-7 fold increases in under 5 mortality;  other countries with higher background child mortality due to other causes are seeing near doubling in under 5 mortality related to AIDS