Illustrative image (Source: WHO)Kuala Lumpur (VNA) - Malaysia hasbecome the first country in the Western Pacific to successfully eliminate mother-to-childtransmission of HIV and syphilis.
General Director of the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus presented the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIVand syphilis (eMTCT) validation certificate to Malaysian Health MinisterDzulkefly Ahmad during the 69th session of the WHO Regional Committee for theWestern Pacific in Manila, Philippines, on October 8.
Malaysia is the 12th nation in theworld to get the certificate from the organisation.
To combat the problem, the Malaysian Health Ministryinitiated the prevention of mother-to-child transmission preventive programmeas a pioneer project in 1997, which was then expanded nationwide in 1998, said Dzulkefly.
The programme involves regular testing of pregnantmothers, with continuous treatment given to HIV-positive mothers and theirbabies. To ensure that the babies are not infected via breastfeeding, thegovernment provides baby formula for free to the mothers for two years,
As for syphilis prevention, he said, the Malaysian governmenthas been conducting universal syphilis testing for pregnant women over the pastthree decades, with infected mothers and their babies given comprehensive andspecific medical care.
The minister said the HIV and syphilis PMTCT programmessuccessfully reduced the HIV transmission rate to under 2 percent in 2016,which fulfils the ‘eliminated’ status indicator.
Congenital syphilis transmission rates, meanwhile, areunder 50 cases per 100,000 births, also meeting the ‘eliminated’ statusindicator. In 2016, Malaysia recorded only four cases of congenital syphilistransmissions per 100,000 births.-VNA
VNA
