Regional initiative for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and congenital syphilis in Latin America and the Caribbean: Regional monitoring strategy (2nd Edition)

In September 2010, at the 50th Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Member States approved the Strategy and Plan of Action for the Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV and Congenital Syphilis in the Americas by 2015 (1). PAHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have developed strategies for advancing towards the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and congenital syphilis (CS). PAHO has been monitoring progress as well as guiding and coordinating processes to validate country-level elimination once countries have reached and maintained the established goals. To date, great progress has been made in the Region of the Americas in implementing the Regional Initiative for the Elimination of the Motherto-Child Transmission of HIV and Congenital Syphilis in Latin America and the Caribbean (hereafter referred to as the “Regional Elimination Initiative”). Five countries have reported figures that meet the elimination targets for mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and as many as 11 may have reached it for CS (2).

This integrated strategy specifies complete and coherent surveillance, with surveillance and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems in place at the country level—all of which allow for measuring progress made towards elimination. In order to support and guide the countries in these processes, the Regional Monitoring Strategy (3) was published in 2010, thus laying the foundation for validating elimination processes in the region.