TWENTY years after the introduction of a transference prevention programme, Jamaica has achieved the elimination of mother-to-child transmission (EMTCT) of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and syphilis, which stakeholders say is momentous and has been long in coming.

Jamaica, which embarked on the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT+) Programme in 2004, joins two other Caribbean nations — Belize and St Vincent and the Grenadines — as the latest countries in the region to achieve this zero-transmission feat.

To celebrate this milestone, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in partnership with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), will be hosting a high-level certification ceremony at Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston today.

“It’s a big achievement. It’s something that we’ve worked hard on over the years with our strategic partners, which of course includes PAHO, UNAIDS, USAID and a range of other critical partners who have contributed to supporting financially, strategically, and operationally the effort to address this issue. So it’s big day for us, a good day for Jamaica as it relates to the fight against HIV and syphilis where a mother can now have their child without fear
— once they follow certain procedures
— of transmitting any of these conditions to the child. It doesn’t mean that the fight against HIV is over, but this is an important milestone from which we can all take some encouragement,” Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton told the Jamaica Observer on Monday.

Caribbean regional director at AIDS Healthcare Foundation Dr Kevin Harvey agreed, describing the development as a “tremendous achievement” which is long overdue and is as a result of the work of many people over the past 20 years.

“It’s really a signal to the country that not only can we eliminate mother-to-child transmission, but we now have all the tools necessary to actually control the HIV epidemic, if we are able to apply them,” he said.

“We now need to work on controlling new infections among young people and others,” he added.

He also congratulated the team from the Ministry of Health and Wellness, including former members, who worked on the programme for the past 20 years.

Executive director, Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JASL) Kandasi Levermore said the organisation is excited about “this very significant milestone in the fight against HIV and AIDS in Jamaica”.

“For us to be witnessing in our lifetime the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis really just brings sheer joy,” she said.

Levermore said the country’s move from a high number of children living with HIV to now having no children being born with HIV “is really something to celebrate”.

“Of course, it’s something to maintain as well and so Jamaica AIDS Support for Life will continue to work with the Ministry of Health to ensure that pregnant women who come into our space are connected and referred to the appropriate health-care facilities, that they can best manage their maternal health,” she said.

She also congratulated the Ministry of Health and Wellness, specifically the HIV/Sexually Transmitted Infection Unit, “for unwavering and tireless efforts to get the country to this place”.

“They worked so hard to ensure that the advancements and the programme would have been sufficient to this day that we are here to celebrate. I just want to big up the guys because I know that they really did work hard,” she said.

PAHO said Tuesday’s high-level certification ceremony “not only recognises the extraordinary efforts of these countries but also serves to champion the ongoing commitment to the elimination of EMTCT Plus initiative within the wider elimination agenda framework”.

In September 2010 PAHO member states unanimously approved the Strategy and Plan of Action for EMTCT of HIV and Congenital Syphilis in this 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.

Just before the COVID-19 pandemic it was reported that more than 90 per cent of HIV-exposed infants received antiretrovirals 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.