Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission

Brazil met all five WHO benchmarks for MTCT elimination. Brazil met all five WHO MTCT elimination benchmarks simultaneously. Brazil became the first country with a population exceeding 100 million to achieve WHO validation of eliminating mother-to-child HIV transmission as a public health problem. Although horizontal transmission through unprotected sex or infected blood also occurs, perinatal transmission drives the endemic cycle most powerfully in sub-Saharan Africa. Mother-to-child HIV transmission elimination does not require complete absence of new cases under the WHO definition. The WHO elimination threshold allows continued but minimal transmission. New pediatric HIV infections must be fewer than 50 per 100,000 live births to meet WHO elimination criteria. The WHO MTCT elimination target for new pediatric infections is fewer than 50 per 100,000 live births. The WHO MTCT elimination target for transmission rate is below 2%. The new pediatric HIV infection rate must be fewer than 50 per 100,000 live births to meet the WHO elimination criterion. The WHO requires a mother-to-child HIV transmission rate below 2% for elimination validation. The WHO MTCT elimination target require…