Cuba Eradicates Syphillis, HIV Transmission to Babies

[eridani]

http://portside.org/2015-03-30/cuba-eradicates-syphillis-hiv-transmission-babies?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#sthash.v30XDKuW.dpuf

Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) will visit Cuba soon to review if the country can be certified to have eliminated the transmission of HIV and syphilis from mother to child.

In order to receive the certification from the WHO, a country must have a transmission rate in less than 0.5 percent of live births in the case of syphilis and less than 2 percent in the case of HIV. Medical care for pregnant women and access to HIV tests must exceed 95 percent and antiretroviral treatment must be available for 95 percent of seropositive pregnant women.

“We believe Cuba meets the indicated requirements and we hope to receive certification,” said Dr. Rosaida Ochoa, director of the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Unit. Dr. Ochoa indicated that 24 experts from the WHO will visit hospitals, clinics, and laboratories in the provinces of Havana, Villa Clara, and Santiago de Cuba. The Cuban doctor indicated that should Cuba be certified to have eliminated the transmission of HIV and syphilis from mother to child, it would be the first country in the world to do so.

[Judi Lynn]

1. It's a victory which Cuba has earned by being devoted to the well-being of all Cubans.

To make it to this breakthrough as the first nation in the world to have accomplished this goal is amazing.

They've done far more with very little than any other country. Nothing even compares.

May the U.S. NOT be allowed to #### with Cuba's world-famous, entirely admirable, legendary health system.