Three tiny Caribbean countries - Belize, Jamaica, St. Vincent and Grenadines receive WHO certification for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.
WHO awards this certification to countries which have brought the mother-to-child HIV transmission rate to under five per cent.
India had 2.5 million people living with HIV in 2022, including 70,000 children.
66,000 people were infected in 2022, a slight increase since 2021.
There were 32,000 AIDS-related deaths in 2022 (four deaths every hour).
But the overall number had reduced by 25 per cent in a year.
In the normal course, the transmission rate of the virus from mother to child during breast-feeding is 24.3 per cent.