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Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-110

§300ff–37a Recommendations for Reducing Incidence of Perinatal Transmission

Title 42 › CHAPTER 6A — PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE › SUBCHAPTER XXIV — HIV HEALTH CARE SERVICES PROGRAM › Part B — Care Grant Program › subpart ii — provisions concerning pregnancy and perinatal transmission of hiv › § 300ff–37a

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary must ask the Institute of Medicine to do a study that: counts, for the most recent fiscal year with available data, how many newborns with HIV were born when the doctor delivering the baby did not know the mother’s HIV status; finds for each State any barriers, including legal ones, that stop or discourage doctors from routinely offering HIV tests to pregnant women and testing newborns when the mother’s HIV status is unknown; and gives each State recommendations to lower perinatal HIV transmission and to remove those barriers. If the Institute of Medicine says no, the Secretary must hire another public or nonprofit group to do the study. The study must be finished and sent to the relevant Congressional committees, the Secretary, and each State’s top public health official within 18 months after the law takes effect. In fiscal year 2004, the Secretary must collect from the States information about what they did to follow the study’s recommendations and must report that information to the Congressional committees.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §300ff–37a

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Study by Institute of Medicine
(1)In general
The Secretary shall request the Institute of Medicine to enter into an agreement with the Secretary under which such Institute conducts a study to provide the following:
(A)For the most recent fiscal year for which the information is available, a determination of the number of newborn infants with HIV born in the United States with respect to whom the attending obstetrician for the birth did not know the HIV status of the mother.
(B)A determination for each State of any barriers, including legal barriers, that prevent or discourage an obstetrician from making it a routine practice to offer pregnant women an HIV test and a routine practice to test newborn infants for HIV/AIDS in circumstances in which the obstetrician does not know the HIV status of the mother of the infant.
(C)Recommendations for each State for reducing the incidence of cases of the perinatal transmission of HIV, including recommendations on removing the barriers identified under subparagraph (B).
If such Institute declines to conduct the study, the Secretary shall enter into an agreement with another appropriate public or nonprofit private entity to conduct the study.
(2)Report
The Secretary shall ensure that, not later than 18 months after the effective date of this section, the study required in paragraph (1) is completed and a report describing the findings made in the study is submitted to the appropriate committees of the Congress, the Secretary, and the chief public health official of each of the States.
(b)Progress toward recommendations
In fiscal year 2004, the Secretary shall collect information from the States describing the actions taken by the States toward meeting the recommendations specified for the States under subsection (a)(1)(C).
(c)Submission of reports to Congress
The Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees of the Congress reports describing the information collected under subsection (b).

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The

Effective Date

of this section, referred to in subsec. (a)(2), is Oct. 20, 2000. See section 601 of Pub. L. 106–345, set out as an

Effective Date

of 2000 Amendment note under section 300ff–12 of this title.

Prior Provisions

A prior section 2628 of act July 1, 1944, was classified to section 300ff–36 of this title prior to repeal by Pub. L. 106–345.

Amendments

2009—Pub. L. 111–87 repealed Pub. L. 109–415, § 703, and revived the provisions of this section as in effect on Sept. 30, 2009. See 2006 Amendment note and

Effective Date

of 2009 Amendment; Revival of Section note below. 2006—Pub. L. 109–415, § 703, which directed repeal of this section effective Oct. 1, 2009, was itself repealed by Pub. L. 111–87, § 2(a)(1), effective Sept. 30, 2009. Subsec. (a)(1)(B). Pub. L. 109–415, § 702(3), substituted “HIV/AIDS” for “HIV disease”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2009 Amendment; Revival of SectionFor provisions that repeal by section 2(a)(1) of Pub. L. 111–87 of section 703 of Pub. L. 109–415 be effective Sept. 30, 2009, and that the provisions of this section as in effect on Sept. 30, 2009, be revived, see section 2(a)(2), (3)(A) of Pub. L. 111–87, set out as a note under section 300ff–11 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 300ff–37a

Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110