Director of Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Dr Jarbas Barbosa is now in Jamaica to celebrate the island’s achievement of eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.

Jamaica joins Belize and St Vincent and the Grenadines as the latest countries in the region to make the achievement.

To celebrate this milestone, PAHO, in partnership with UNICEF and UNAIDS, will be hosting a high-level ceremony on Wednesday.

“This event not only recognises the extraordinary efforts of these countries, but also serves to champion the ongoing commitment to the elimination of mother-to-child transmission (EMTCT) plus initiative within the wider elimination agenda framework,” said PAHO.

In September 2010 PAHO member states unanimously approved the Strategy and Plan of Action for EMTCT of HIV and congenital syphilis in our region.

Following the approval of the PAHO action plan, Caribbean countries and territories commenced the implementation of interventions to strengthen the primary prevention and treatment services for HIV and syphilis within the maternal and child health services, an ongoing process.

The overall aim of the scale-up of services was to advance to EMTCT certification, ensuring a generation free of HIV and syphilis.

“After years of bolstering primary prevention and treatment services within Belize, in 2023, and Jamaica along with St Vincent and the Grenadines, attained WHO certification for EMTCT of HIV and syphilis in early 2024,” said PAHO.

In 2004 Jamaica introduced the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT+) Programme and has made significant gains over the years.

Just before the COVID-19 pandemic it was reported that more than 90 per cent of HIV-exposed infants received antireetrovirals to lower the risk of transmission of HIV.

The transmission rate of HIV from mother to child was estimated to be less than 10 per cent in 2020 coming from a baseline of 25 per cent.