Campaign to lower HIV and syphilis rates in children

Santo Domingo.- The Dominican health authorities and aleading medical association have joined forces in an initiative focused onreducing the number of children who are affected by the HIV virus andcongenital syphilis at birth.

The Dominican Pediatrics Society and the Ministry ofPublic Health have organized the first of three training days for pediatriciansacross the country, in order to increase their knowledge and commitment to theinitiative, which is aimed at reducing the number of babies born with HIV by 2%and congenital syphilis by 0.5%.

Nonetheless,there are no reliable statistics for establishing a parameter that shows theprecise scale of the problem in the country.

The campaign stresses improved detection of these diseases in pregnancy, betterand more stringent monitoring during gestation, and treatment after birth.

Yesterday, theMinistry of Public Health and the Dominican Pediatric Society organized aseries of regional educational campaigns.