Eliminated mother to child transmission (MTCT) of HIV and syphilis in Sri Lanka; WHO confirms

Sri Lanka has been declared as a country that eliminated mother to child transmission of HIV and syphilis by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Geneva on 13th November 2019.
National STD AIDS Control Programme (NSACP) of Sri Lanka
In 1954, commenced a programme for the prevention of congenital syphilis.
In 2002, started the programme for the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV.
 In 2013, these two programmes were combined for the “Elimination of mother to child transmission (EMTCT) of HIV and syphilis.”
Overall target was to achieve and maintain the impact indicators for one year and process indicators for two years and then maintain these achievements to be eligible for the application of the validation process. The programme was designed on a multi-disciplinary, multi-partnered, and multi-level approach with strong links between maternal and child health services and sexually transmitted infections and HIV services in both government and private sectors.
By end 2018, the country had achieved the set targets to be eligible to apply for the WHO validation of EMTCT of HIV and syphilis. 
In July 2019, the ministry of health made a formal request to the WHO to validate the EMTCT of HIV and syphilis programme. After a thorough assessment of the country situation, the regional validation team recommended certification of Sri Lanka. This was further assessed by the Global validation team at WHO Geneva. 
On 13th November 2019, the WHO formally announced that Sri Lanka has eliminated MTCT of HIV and syphilis