THE Ministry of Health says it has sought “formal clarification and retraction” of a statement released by the UNAIDS earlier this month which claimed that St. Lucia was the only Eastern Caribbean country which had not eliminated mother to child transmission of HIV.
The Ministry said the claim was “completely unfounded”.
It said the last reported case of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in St Lucia was in 2010. This was largely attributed to the National PMTCT (Prevention of mother-to-child transmission) programme which was created in 2008.
The Ministry of Health said Saint Lucia remained committed in its efforts in preventing mother to child transmission of HIV. It added: “UNAIDS for its part has assured the ministry that it will publish a full retraction of the statement and highlight St. Lucia’s accomplishment is the elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV since 2010”.