Infant and maternal tetanus was officially eliminated from the Americas this year, the Pan American Health Organization announced on Thursday.

At one time, the infection killed about 10,000 newborns annually in the Western Hemisphere; tetanus still kills about 35,000 infants around the world.

It was one of several significant global health advances, including new programs against malaria and H.I.V., announced last week in conjunction with the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Haiti was the last country in the Americas to eliminate neonatal tetanus. That does not mean complete eradication, because the bacteria that cause tetanus exist everywhere in soil and animal droppings.