Abstract
Sri Lanka has been declared as a country that eliminated mother to child transmission of HIV and syphilis by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Geneva on 13th November 2019. National STD AIDS Control Programme (NSACP) of Sri Lanka In 1954, commenced a programme for the prevention of congenital syphilis. In 2002, started the programme for the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV. In 2013, these two programmes were combined for the “Elimination of mother to child transmission (EMTCT) of HIV and syphilis.” Overall target was to achieve and maintain the impact indicators for one year and process indicators for two years and then maintain these achievements to be eligible for the application of the validation process. The programme was designed on a multi-disciplinary, multi-partnered, and multi-level approach with strong links between maternal and child health services and sexually transmitted infections and HIV services in both government and private sectors. By end 2018, the country had achieved the set targets to be eligible to apply for the WHO validation of EMTCT of HIV and syphilis. In July 2019, the ministry of health made a formal request to the WHO to validate the EMTCT of HIV and syphilis programme. After a thorough assessment of the country situation, the regional validation team recommended certification of Sri Lanka. This was further assessed by the Global validation team at WHO Geneva. On 13th November 2019, the WHO formally announced that Sri Lanka has eliminated MTCT of HIV and syphilis
Highlights
Sri Lanka has been declared as a country that eliminated MTCT of HIV and syphilis by World Health Organisation (WHO), Geneva in 2019
Sri Lanka has been declared as a country that eliminated MTCT of HIV and syphilis by WHO, Geneva in 2019
In response to the request made by the UN agencies from the participating countries, Sri Lanka committed at the meeting, to eliminate MTCT of HIV and syphilis by end 2017
Summary
Sri Lanka has been declared as a country that eliminated MTCT of HIV and syphilis by WHO, Geneva in 2019. The South-East Asia regional office of the world health organization (WHO SEARO) initially identified Sri Lanka as one of the potential countries in the region to reach the elimination status of MTCT of HIV and syphilis. The important reasons to consider Sri Lanka as a potential country to eliminate MTCT of HIV and syphilis. Sri Lanka had to achieve the following impact indicators for one year and process indicators for two years to achieve the milestone It should be achieved by an adequate “validation standard” national monitoring and surveillance system that can capture process data from both the public and private health sectors, and detect the great majority of cases of MTCT of HIV and syphilis as per the validation readiness criteria
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