[Prevention and control of vertical HIV transmission program in Cuba. January 1986-December 2007]

The HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to increase in spite of the strategies developed, including the use of HAART. One of the vulnerable populations is the child of HIV+ mothers. In Cuba, a prevention and control program of HIV infection was implemented in 1986 and one of the key aims was to reduce perinatal infection. In this study, the medical records of all 314 children born to HIV/AIDS positive mothers between January 1986 to December 2007 are described. Our aim was to determine the relationship between Program compliance and prevention of vertical transmission (VT). A total of 248/314 infants completed a full virological evaluation at the time of this report 32 (12.9%) were HIV-infected. In these 32 children, mortality due to AIDS related events was 31.2%, of which 60% died before their first year of life. VT rate decreased from 50,0% to 14,6% after implementation of prophylactic caesarean section and to 2.2% in 99 women complying with the new adopted program including HAART antiviral therapy in pregnant woman, caesarean section, and AZT to the newborn. The effectiveness of combining a caesarean section and HAART was 95.2%. The prevention program for HIV/AIDS vertical transmission implemented in Cuba has been effective in reducing VT, similar to other worldwide reports.