Mother to Child Transmission of HIV 145. Pregnant women at both clinics and health centres are encouraged to go for Voluntary Testing and Counselling (VCT). Pregnant women who are HIV positive are provided with a drug, nave rapine to reduce the risk of HIV infection from mother to child at birth. Antenatal Care 146. The State Party, in an effort to protect the life of a child at birth, provides free antenatal care services for pregnant women. Women are advised on the nutritional standards to adhere to during pregnancy. This measure helps to increase the chances of child survival at birth and a child’s good health during the first five years of its life. All pregnant women are free to visit their local antenatal clinics during their pregnancy. Statistics on Child Health and Life Expectancy 147. Government continues to monitor and evaluate the impact of these policies and programmes through various surveys. The population censuses remain the major source of demographic information. The 1980, 1990 and 2000 population censuses provided information on child mortality rates, based on reports of the mothers, of the survival of their children by sex. 148. Table 1.0 below presents various mortality indicators in Zambia from 1980 to 2000. Overall, Infant Mortality Rate3 (IMR) declined in Zambia, by about 12 percent, though still higher than the 1980 figure. IMR increased 3 Infant Mortality Rate, refers to the number of deaths among infants aged below one year per thousand (1,000) live births per year. 74