Cuba successfully prevents HIV virus transmission from mother to child

(Baonghean.vn) - On July 1, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that Cuba officially became the first country to successfully control mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.

“Eliminating the risk of transmission is one of the greatest achievements in public health,” said Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO. “This is a major victory in our long-term fight against HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. It is also an important step towards an AIDS-free future.”

According to health leaders, comprehensive health care, improved testing quality and increased attention to birth care. Specifically, in 100,000 births, there are only less than 50 cases of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.

Mother to child transmission is one of the routes of HIV transmission.

However, antiretroviral treatments to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission are not 100% effective, so there are still some cases of failure, although the probability is very small.

This progress in Cuba's medical sector was recognized by WHO and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) as having contributed to "reducing the infection rate to a very low level, so low that it is no longer a difficult problem for the medical sector."

According to the WHO, health experts have been working in Cuba since 2010 to “conduct early diagnosis in antenatal care, HIV and syphilis testing for pregnant women and their partners, treatment of women who test positive and their fetuses, implementation of caesarean section techniques and finding alternatives to breastfeeding for pregnant women with the disease.”

“Cuba’s success shows that by taking a holistic, comprehensive approach, we can tackle challenging diseases like HIV,” said Carissa Etienne, Director of PAHO.

Every year, about 1.4 million women worldwide with HIV become pregnant. Without treatment, they have a 15-45% risk of passing the virus to their baby during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding. However, with antiretroviral treatment for both mother and baby, the risk drops to just over 1%.

In 2009, the number of children infected with HIV at birth was 400,000. In 2013, it dropped to 240,000. But to achieve the target of reducing to only 40,000 children infected with HIV by 2015 requires great efforts from health agencies.

“The pandemic is being defeated and will be defeated,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé. “Cuba is the first country to be declared AIDS-free for the next generation and a source of inspiration for other countries around the world to eliminate the disease.”

Ngoc Trung

(According to Times of India)