8 February 2017

Thailand has become the first Asian country to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, thanks to a pragmatic multi-sector response backed by strong political commitment and heavy government investment, a new study reports. Such an early, concerted response allowed the country to successfully address the four prongs of the recommended World Health Organization (WHO) elimination strategy. As a result, MTCT rates were reduced from 20-40% in the mid-1990s to 1.9% in 2015 (surpassing the WHO elimination target of <2%).