Cuba successfully eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV

Baku. 2 July. REPORT.AZ/ Cuba has successfully eliminated mother-to-child transmission of both HIV and syphilis, Report informs, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

The head of the WHO, Dr Margaret Chan, called it one of the greatest public health achievements possible.

It follows years of efforts to give pregnant women early access to prenatal care, testing and drugs to stop these diseases passing from mother to child.

The WHO hopes other countries will be able to achieve the same.

Every year, globally, around 1.4 million women living with HIV become pregnant.

Untreated, they have a 15-45% chance of transmitting the virus to their children during pregnancy, labour, delivery or breastfeeding.

That risk drops to about 1% if antiretroviral medicines are given to both mothers and their babies.

And each year, nearly a million pregnant women worldwide are infected with syphilis.