The World Health Organization has officially recognised Brazil as having eliminated mother-to-child transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), according to a press release issued on 18 December 2025. This makes Brazil the most populous country in the Americas to have reached this milestone, a reflection of the country's long-standing commitment to providing free healthcare to all its citizens via its Unified Health System.
The goal was achieved by targeting states and municipalities individually, beginning with those with a population larger than 100 000, then moving on to smaller zones. Within each area healthcare workers set out to provide prenatal care, routine HIV testing, and timely treatment for pregnant women living with HIV, thereby improving the quality of services to all mothers and infants, not just those effected by HIV.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, is a form of Lentivirus which causes infections in Humans, spread through sexual intercourse or exchange of blood. Notably, the Virus infects the cells of the Human immune system, where it is hard for that immune system to attack, and eventually leads to a breakdown of the immune system known as AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), during which the body becomes vulnerable to a wide range of infections, including many by micro-organisms which are not usually pathogenic.
Untreated, HIV invariably leads to AIDS, and AIDS is invariably fatal, but, as with Syphilis, HIV infections can go through long phases of dormancy, leaving infected people unaware that they have the disease. Neither an effective vaccine nor a cure for HIV has yet been developed, however, it is possible to suppress the infection with a combination of anti-viral drugs, allowing patients to lead relatively normal lives, as long as their supply of antivirals is not interrupted. Children born to mothers with HIV are not automatically infected, as the Virus is usually unable to cross the placenta, but there is a high chance of infection during birth if the mother is not receiving treatment.
Scanning electron microscope image of an HIV virion. Hockley et al. (1988).
The evaluation of Brazil as being free from mother-to-child transmission of HIV was made by independent assessors working in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization, and then reviewed and confirmed by experts from the World Health Organization.
The elimination is part of a broader initiative by the Pan American Health Organization, the EMTCT Plus Initiative (End Mother-To-Child-Transmission Plus Initiative), which aims to eliminate mother-to-child-transmission of of HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B, and congenital Chagas, across the Americas, itself a part of the wider Elimination Initiative, which aims to eliminate more than 30 communicable diseases across the Americas by 2030.
Brazil is the nineteenth country to have eliminated mother-to-child-transmission of HIV, and the twelfth nation in the Americas to have done so. Cuba became the first country to eliminate such transmission in 2015, followed by Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and Saint Kitts and Nevis in 2017; Dominica in 2020; Belize in 2023; and Jamaica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2024. Outside the Americas, Armenia, Belarus, Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, Sri Lanka, and Thailand have also all eliminated mother-to-child-transmission of HIV.
.png)
