Barbados meets global HIV targets

After more than three decades of work to tackle mother-to-child transmission of HIV, Barbados has achieved the elimination of transmission of the viral disease as a public health problem, Senior Medical Officer of Health and HIV/STI Programme Manager Dr Dale Babb said on Friday.

Between 2022 and 2024, 6 352 live births were recorded in Barbados, with no new HIV infections resulting from mother-to-child transmission.

The achievement was formally recognised at a ceremony at the Sandals Royal Ballroom in Maxwell, Christ Church, hosted by the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

Babb, who is also deputy chair of the National Validation Committee, told the gathering that the certification was the result of significant effort, sustained commitment and a deep national resolve shared by everyone involved.

She said: “Barbados has now met all global mother-to-child transmission validation targets, including a transmission rate of less than two per cent, perinatal HIV incidence below 0.5 per 1 000 live births, and more than 95 per cent coverage of antenatal care, HIV testing and treatment for pregnant women living with HIV.

“Proudly, we were one of the first Caribbean countries to introduce AZT for pregnant women living with HIV,” she added.

The work began in 1995, when Barbados started its prevention of mother-to-child transmission programme after international research showed that zidovudine, or AZT, could significantly reduce transmission from mother to child.

That intervention brought transmission rates down from 27 per cent to 5.5 per cent, she said, with further reductions after a second drug was introduced as prophylaxis alongside AZT. HIV testing among pregnant women also increased from 40 per cent in 1993 to 89 per cent in 2004, reaching 98 per cent in 2025.

Among those she recognised for their contributions were Prof Anne St John, who championed treatment and adherence among pregnant women living with HIV; Prof Timothy Roach, whose involvement dates back to 1984, when the island’s first cases of Aids were diagnosed; and Dr Anton Best, who led the National HIV/STI Programme from 2007 to 2021.

Minister of Health and Wellness Senator Lisa Cummins, who opened the ceremony, said the milestone had been a long time coming and stressed that the work must continue beyond the receipt of the certification.

She said the government was committed to ensuring that women’s and children’s healthcare remained a priority, with support embedded in policies, operations and structures rather than being marked by the presentation of a certificate.

Dr Eva Jané Llopis, the PAHO/WHO representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, said the certification was the result of years of sustained commitment, from the early days of the HIV response when fear and stigma were almost as great a challenge as the virus itself.

She said the achievement meant every child born in Barbados had been protected, “whether born in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital or in a private hospital”, and whether the mother received care at a polyclinic or from a private obstetrician.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley said the achievement demonstrated what Barbados could accomplish when it placed people ahead of market considerations.

She recalled a ministerial statement delivered by her colleague Elizabeth Thompson, in which she announced the government’s commitment to eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV, with the then prime minister and minister of finance agreeing to fund treatment for pregnant women.

What had remained with her, Mottley said, was that even countries such as South Africa, which were on the frontline of the epidemic, had not reached that level of policy commitment at the time.

“I believe that this is a clear example of why we must continue to put people at the centre of our development,” she said.

She said there were children and adults in Barbados today “living ordinary lives, doing extraordinary things” who might otherwise have contracted HIV had the prevention policy not been introduced.

“So success does not always look like something that we can see and touch immediately,” she said.

(LG)