The World Health Organization has announced that Cuba is the first country to successfully eliminate the transfer of HIV and syphilis from mothers to newborns.
In 2013, just two newborns in the country were found to have been born with HIV, a small enough number to meet a WHO standard for considering the problem eliminated, U.N. officials say.
"This is a celebration for Cuba and a celebration for children and families everywhere," said Michel Sidibé, executive director of the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. "It shows that ending the AIDS epidemic is possible and we expect Cuba to be the first of many countries coming forward to seek validation that they have ended their epidemics among children," he said in a statement released by WHO.
In 2010 WHO, along with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), started working with Cuba and other countries to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.
The effort included prenatal care, testing for pregnant women and their partners for syphilis and HIV, treatment for women and their babies if tests came back positive, cesarean deliveries and breastfeeding substitution.
Successful treatment of HIV infections in pregnant women has been found to reduce the risk of passing the infection to a newborn to as low as 1 percent from between 15 percent to around 45 percent if treatment is not available.
"Eliminating transmission of a virus is one of the greatest public health achievements possible," says WHO director-general Dr. Margaret Chan. "This is a major victory in our long fight against HIV and sexually transmitted infections, and an important step towards having an AIDS-free generation."
WHO estimates around 1.4 million women around the world with HIV become pregnant every year, with a significant chance of passing the viral infection to their children during pregnancy, labor, delivery or breastfeeding.
That risk is significantly reduced if birth mothers and newborns are treated with antiviral drugs during those periods.
The same can be accomplished in the estimated one million pregnant women who are infected with syphilis each year, using screening and treatment opportunities, including penicillin, during pregnancy, WHO says.
The number of children born with HIV, around 400,000 in 2009, dropped to 240,000 in 2013.
WHO officials say a goal of no more than 40,000 new child HIV infections annually will require more efforts around the world like those undertaken in Cuba.
"Cuba's success demonstrates that universal access and universal health coverage are feasible and indeed are the key to success, even against challenges as daunting as HIV," says Dr. Carissa F. Etienne, PAHO director. "Cuba's achievement today provides inspiration for other countries to advance towards elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis."
