Cuba eliminates mother-to-baby HIV transmission

Cuba has become the first country in the world to eliminate the transmission of HIV and syphilis from mother to baby, the WHO said, hailing the success as “one of the greatest public health achievements possible.” 

“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,” said Dr Margaret Chan, World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General.

“Eliminating transmission of a virus is one of the greatest public health achievements possible,” she said.

“This is a celebration for Cuba and a celebration for children and families everywhere. 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,” said Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

Every year, globally, an estimated 1.4 million women living with HIV become pregnant. Untreated, they have a 15-45 <g data-gr-id="18">per cent</g> chance of transmitting the virus to their children during pregnancy, labour, delivery or breastfeeding.

However, that risk drops to just over 1 <g data-gr-id="19">per cent</g> if antiretroviral medicines are given to both mothers and children throughout the stages when infection can occur.

The number of children born annually with HIV has almost halved since 2009 - down from 400,000 in 2009 to 240,000 in 2013, WHO said.