At a special ceremony during the 63rd Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Directing Council, Brazil, the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands were recognized for achieving milestones towards eliminating vertical transmission of HIV, underscoring the Americas' growing leadership in ending new HIV infections among children.  

“Today we celebrate an achievement that reflects the best of our region: the ability to transform political commitment, evidence and cooperation into concrete results for people’s health,” said PAHO Director Dr Jarbas Barbosa. 

The achievements recognized include: 

• Brazil—validated in December 2025 for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV, becoming the world’s most populous country to achieve this milestone.
• The Bahamas—certified in April 2026 for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
• Turks and Caicos Islands—certified in June 2026 for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV and hepatitis B, becoming the first territory in the Americas to achieve the latter milestone. 

The achievements add to a long history of leadership by the Americas in disease elimination. 

“UNAIDS is proud of the progress across the Americas in eliminating vertical transmission of HIV,” said Dr Angeli Achrekar, Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS, who attended the ceremony. “PAHO’s recognition of Brazil, the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands signals bold progress towards ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.” 

During the recent United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, Member States adopted a bold new Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS, which commits them to ‘prioritize and urgently accelerate the elimination of vertical transmission of HIV’. 

These milestones are part of the broader Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV Plus Initiative, which aims to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and congenital Chagas disease across Latin America and the Caribbean. Implemented in collaboration with UNICEF and UNAIDS, the initiative is embedded within PAHO’s Elimination Initiative, a regional effort to eliminate more than 30 communicable diseases and related conditions in the Americas by 2030.