Strategy and Plan of Action for Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV and Congenital Syphilis in Latin America and the Caribbean: Regional Monitoring Strategy (3rd 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.

PAHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have developed strategies for advancing towards the elimination of mother-to-child transmission (EMTCT) 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 Strategy and Plan of Action for Elimination of the Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV and Congenital Syphilis (hereafter referred to as the “Regional EMTCT Strategy”). 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.