Health lead­ers, tech­ni­cal ex­perts, and coun­try rep­re­sen­ta­tives from 19 Caribbean coun­tries have gath­ered in Trelawny, Ja­maica, for the Caribbean Work­shop on the Strength­en­ing of Elim­i­na­tion of Moth­er-to-Child Trans­mis­sion of spe­cif­ic dis­eases with­in Ma­ter­nal and Child Health (MCH).

This work­shop cel­e­brates the re­gion’s lead­er­ship in EMTCT of HIV and syphilis and re­in­forces a col­lec­tive com­mit­ment to strength­en pre­ven­tion and re­sponse ef­forts against HIV, syphilis, and he­pati­tis B.

Or­gan­ised by the Pan Amer­i­can Health Or­ga­ni­za­tion (PA­HO) in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Caribbean Com­mu­ni­ty (CARI­COM) and the Unit­ed Na­tions Of­fice for South-South Co­op­er­a­tion and sup­port­ed by the In­dia-UN De­vel­op­ment Part­ner­ship Fund, the ini­tia­tive rep­re­sents an in­vest­ment in the health and well­be­ing of moth­ers and chil­dren through­out the re­gion.

Over the two-day work­shop, par­tic­i­pants will share na­tion­al ex­pe­ri­ences, dis­cuss im­ple­men­ta­tion strate­gies, and de­vel­op ac­tion plans to main­tain and build on EMTCT gains. Coun­try-led ses­sions will fea­ture in­no­va­tions from Be­lize, Ja­maica, St. Vin­cent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and To­ba­go, and ex­plore op­por­tu­ni­ties for South-South co­op­er­a­tion, lab­o­ra­to­ry strength­en­ing, da­ta qual­i­ty im­prove­ments, and com­mu­ni­ca­tion for health.

In 2023, eight coun­tries and ter­ri­to­ries - An­guil­la, An­tigua and Bar­bu­da, Bermu­da, Cay­man Is­lands, Cu­ba, Do­mini­ca, Montser­rat, and St. Kitts and Nevis - were reval­i­dat­ed as hav­ing achieved EMTCT of HIV and syphilis.

In 2024, Be­lize, St. Vin­cent and the Grenadines, and Ja­maica al­so earned cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, re­flect­ing years of in­vest­ment in in­te­grat­ed care, com­mu­ni­ty out­reach, and pub­lic health lead­er­ship. As stat­ed by San­dra Jones, HIV/STI, TB and Vi­ral He­pati­tis Ad­vi­sor at the PA­HO/WHO Caribbean Of­fice, “It is a true re­flec­tion of the in­te­gra­tion of EMTCT, HIV, STIs and He­pati­tis virus in­to MCH pro­grams”.

Speak­ing on be­half of Dr. Ian Stein, PA­HO/WHO Rep­re­sen­ta­tive for Ja­maica, Bermu­da, and the Cay­man Is­lands, Dr. Paul Ed­wards, Ad­vi­sor HIV/STI Sur­veil­lance at PA­HO/WHO com­mend­ed these mile­stones stat­ing that “this gath­er­ing comes at a very crit­i­cal mo­ment for the Caribbean re­gion...these mile­stones rep­re­sent far more than a com­mend­able achieve­ment, it stands as a pow­er­ful tes­ta­ment to what can be ac­com­plished through strate­gic part­ner­ships, long-term in­vest­ments and un­wa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to health eq­ui­ty.”

De­spite this progress, re­cent da­ta re­port­ed to PA­HO in­di­cate a 40% in­crease in con­gen­i­tal syphilis cas­es across the Amer­i­c­as be­tween 2016 and 2022, with more than 36,000 cas­es re­port­ed in 2022alone. Nine­teen out of 26 re­port­ing coun­tries al­so not­ed in­creas­es in syphilis among preg­nant women dur­ing that pe­ri­od. These trends are a re­minder of the con­tin­ued need for vig­i­lance and sus­tained ac­tion.