•Although congenital syphilis has a known etiological agent, accessible diagnosis and low-cost, effective treatment with low fetal toxicity, it continues to challenge obstetric and antenatal care services. •The increasing rates of syphilis in the general population have direct repercussions on the increase in cases of congenital syphilis, a situation of objective interest for public health. •Although transforming the recording of syphilis and congenital syphilis into notifiable diseases improved the records and has made it possible to measure the occurrence of these diseases and create solutions, no effects on reducing their frequency have been reached yet. •The failure to control syphilis/congenital syphilis is multifactorial, and associates variables that range from the deficiency in teaching about these diseases in schools and in the training system of the various health professional segments, as well as the lack of rigid policies for quality control from antenatal care until the clinical follow-up of children exposed to