Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Transl Med. Jul 28, 2026; 12(2): 120643
Published online Jul 28, 2026. doi: 10.5528/wjtm.120643
Published online Jul 28, 2026. doi: 10.5528/wjtm.120643
Effectiveness of the standardized strategy for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus in Ecuador
Doménica D Villacís-Ponce, School of Medicine, San Gregorio de Portoviejo University, Portoviejo 130101, Manabí, Ecuador
Alexandra I Andrade-Nieto, Neonatology Service, Dr. Teodoro Maldonado Carbo Specialty Hospital, Guayaquil 090203, Guayas, Ecuador
Author contributions: Villacís-Ponce DD and Andrade-Nieto AI contributed to the investigation, patient recruitment and follow-up coordination, data curation and verification, interpretation of the results, and critical review and editing of the manuscript; Villacís-Ponce DD additionally conceived and designed the study, developed the study methodology, performed the formal analysis, prepared the original draft of the manuscript, supervised the overall research process, managed the project, and contributed substantially to the intellectual content of the study and the final version of the manuscript; Andrade-Nieto AI additionally validated the dataset, prepared the visual materials, and provided essential resources for study execution.
AI contribution statement: The initial translation of this research manuscript into English was performed using the AI tool Copilot. The translated text was then carefully reviewed and verified by one of the authors with advanced English proficiency. The QuillBot extension for Chrome was subsequently used to refine punctuation according to standard grammatical conventions. Finally, Copilot was used to format the references in the style required by the journal, as the original Spanish version of the manuscript followed American Psychological Association guidelines. All other aspects of the work, including the development of the introduction, methods, results, analysis, and conclusions, were produced entirely by the authors. These sections reflect 6 years of dedicated work in the prevention of the mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus. The authors take full responsibility and accountability for all content of this manuscript, including any portions for which AI tools were used as assistive technologies. All AI-assisted outputs were carefully reviewed, validated, and approved by the authors. AI tools were not used to generate original scientific data, perform independent scientific analyses, or draw scientific conclusions.
Institutional review board statement: This retrospective study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Hospital de Especialidades Teodoro Maldonado Carbo (Approval No. IESS-HTMC-JACMI-2024-0224-M). The approval authorized the use of fully anonymized maternal and neonatal clinical data for research, epidemiological analysis, and quality improvement purposes, in accordance with national confidentiality regulations and the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.
Informed consent statement: The study used anonymized retrospective clinical records generated during routine care within the national prevention of mother-to-child transmission program. According to institutional policy and the Ethics Committee’s determination, the requirement for individual informed consent was waived because the research involved no direct patient contact, no additional procedures, and no identifiable information. The institution maintains a standardized informed consent form for the use of clinical information in research, which outlines confidentiality safeguards and voluntary authorization; however, for this retrospective analysis, the Ethics Committee confirmed that a waiver of informed consent was appropriate.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: The clinical data used in this study originate from confidential institutional medical records and cannot be publicly shared because of national regulations and Ecuadorian Social Security Institute data protection policies. De-identified data may be made available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author and with prior approval by Hospital de Especialidades “Dr. Teodoro Maldonado Carbo.”
Corresponding author: Doménica D Villacís-Ponce, MD, Professor, Researcher, School of Medicine, San Gregorio de Portoviejo University, Avenida Metropolitana y Avenida Olímpica, Portoviejo 130101, Manabí, Ecuador. ddvillacis@sangregorio.edu.ec
Received: March 4, 2026
Revised: June 6, 2026
Accepted: July 9, 2026
Published online: July 28, 2026
Processing time: 147 Days and 8.2 Hours
Revised: June 6, 2026
Accepted: July 9, 2026
Published online: July 28, 2026
Processing time: 147 Days and 8.2 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This study shows that a rigorously implemented, standardized national strategy for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus can achieve a vertical transmission rate of 0.65% in a real-world Ecuadorian setting. The findings highlight the importance of early maternal diagnosis, consistent antiretroviral therapy, and coordinated maternal-infant follow-up to sustain progress toward national elimination goals.