Thailand has become the first country in Asia to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis, the World Health Organisation says.
The milestone is another step in Thailand's aggressive campaign to reduce new cases of the AIDS virus, but experts warn many other problems still exist - including a rising rate of new HIV infections among gay men and transgender people.
The number of babies contracting HIV dropped from more than 3000 in the late 1990s to 86 in 2015, a figure that was validated to meet WHO's criteria for elimination - mother-to-child transmission rates of less than 2 per cent and fewer than 50 new infections in 100,000 births.
Cuba became the first country to reach the goal last year.
Along with Thailand, Belarus eliminated the mother-to-child spread of HIV and syphilis, Armenia did for HIV and Moldova did for syphilis, the WHO announced on Tuesday.
Globally, 220,000 new cases of HIV were recorded in babies in 2014, and syphilis caused some 200,000 stillbirths and neonatal deaths in 2012.
"I do think that once Thailand has been able to do it, it's a motivation for other countries around the world and also for the public health community because one does see now that, yes, the world can be free of HIV," Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO's Southeast Asia director, said by phone, noting Thailand's HIV rate was once among the region's highest.
Thailand's success comes from strong prenatal care from large cities all the way to the poorest villages. Nearly all pregnant Thai women are screened for HIV, 95 per cent of those who test positive are treated to prevent transmission to their babies and almost 100 per cent of babies born to HIV-positive mothers are given antiretroviral drugs.
However, hundreds of thousands of migrant women, many of them working or seeking menial jobs in Thailand, are not included in the data.
Many poor women from neighbouring Myanmar and Cambodia do not receive any prenatal care or HIV screening while in Thailand. A 2010 Thai government report found that two to three times more migrant women were infected with HIV in certain areas of the country.
Steve Mills, technical director at nonprofit FHI360's Asia-Pacific office in Bangkok, said Thailand needs to also focus more on at-risk populations such as intravenous drug users and sex workers operating outside of brothels. Gay men and transgender people are of particular concern.
Last year, the World Bank published a study calling for more free anonymous testing and treatment among gay men. It said the rate of infection within Bangkok alone had jumped from an estimated 21 per cent in 2000 to 28 per cent in 2012. Only one-fifth of those infected were receiving antiretroviral drugs, even though it's provided by the government without cost.
