P301 Elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis in the Mercosul countries: a general overview

Background Mercosul (Southern Common Market) consists of four countries – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – with close economic relations in Latin America. The displacement of people within countries and across borders is frequent observed and needs surveillance and health care implementation for infections that do not recognize borders. The present study aims to presenting the HIV and syphilis overview in Mercosul countries, highlighting the vertical transmission of these diseases. Methods We systematically collected data from Mercosul countries in the past two years through Ministry of Health websites, countries national official data and Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) reports. We compared country data with each other and with the targets set by PAHO elimination of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV and syphilis. Results The HIV detection in Uruguay and Paraguay had the highest rates, with 29/100,000 inhabitants and 22.8/100,000 inhabitants, when compared to Brazil (17.8/100,000 inhabitants) and Argentina (10.3/100,000 inhabitants). Regarding the MTCT of HIV, Brazil and Uruguay are within the PAHO elimination target (≤2%), showing rates of 1.6% and 1.5%, respectively. The syphilis rates have increased significantly in recent years, reaching 75.8/100,000 inhabitants in Brazil, 51.1/100,000 inhabitants in Argentina and 46/100,000 inhabitants in Paraguay. In Brazil, the pregnant rates were 20.8 pregnant women per 1,000 live births (LB) in 2019. The goal of eliminating congenital syphilis (≤0.5/1,000 LB) was not achieved by any country, with Paraguay having the highest rate (17.9/1,000 LB), followed by Brazil (8.2/1,000 LB), Argentina (1.55/1,000 LB) and Uruguay (1.4/1,000 LB). Conclusions Official national standardization data is an important tool for planning joint actions. These data indicate the need to maximize strategies, especially related to congenital syphilis prevention. Also they reinforce the importance of political commitment from the Ministries of Health and international cooperation for the elimination of MTCT in Mercosul.