Abstract

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) made its world debut in the early 1980s and is still prevalent throughout the world today. With advancements in medical treatments for HIV, infected people are living longer, and children born with the disease are encountering new difficulties previously not observed because high death rates were associated with the diagnosis. The goal of this paper is to analyze previous studies from five different nations, the United States of America, Haiti, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda. Each of these studies assesses psychomotor development in infants with HIV infection. The data from these studies supports the argument that HIV is the primary cause of infant developmental delays, regardless of culture and economic upbringing. A significant association between psychomotor developmental delay and HIV infection was found in a majority of the research. Future research needs to be conducted in order to discover the link between the central nervous system and HIV. It has been proposed that animal research using SIV (Simian Immunodeficiency Virus) infected primates as subjects shows the most promise in this field of research; the process is slowed by the obvious ethical issues.