Three years of consistent progress on HIV treatment and prevention affects 2.7 million young people
Three years of consistent progress on HIV treatment and prevention affects 2.7 million young people
About 110,000 young people under the age of 19 died last year from AIDS-related causes, says the United Nations Children’s Fund (United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)UNICEF) said on Friday, noting that along with 310,000 new infections, the total number of young people living with HIV stands at 2.7 million.
Front World AIDS Day On Thursday, UNICEF warned in its latest global overview of children, HIV and AIDS that progress in HIV prevention and treatment has remained largely unchanged over the past three years, with many regions still under covered pre-pandemic service.
“Although children have long lagged adults in the response to AIDS, The stagnation seen over the past three years is unprecedentedputs too many young lives at risk of illness and death.” speak UNICEF Deputy Head of HIV/AIDS Anurita Bains.
collective failure
This stems from the existing and growing gap in treatment between adults and children, adolescents and pregnant women.
“Children are falling through the cracks because together we fail to find and test them and get them into life-saving treatment,” she continued.
“Every day that goes by without progress, more than 300 children and young people lose their fight against AIDS.”
The numbers tell the story
Although accounting for only 7% of all people living with HIV, Children and adolescents account for 17% of AIDS-related deathsand 21% of new HIV infections last year.
Without addressing the causes of inequality, UNICEF warns, ending AIDS in children and young people will continue to be a distant dream.
However, the snapshot indicates that the long-term trends remain positive.
The number of new HIV infections among children under 14 years of age has decreased by 52% between 2010 and 2021, and the number of new infections among children aged 15 to 19 has also decreased by 40%.
Similarly, lifetime antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage among pregnant women with HIV has increased from 46% to 81% in just a decade.
The treatment gap is increasing
While the total number of children living with HIV is decreasing, The treatment gap between children and adults continues to increase.
In UNICEF’s HIV priority countries, ART coverage for children stood at 56% in 2020 but fell to 54% in 2021.
Several factors have contributed to the decline, including pandemics and other global crises that have increased social marginalization and poverty.
However, the failure also reflects waning political will and a declining response to childhood AIDS.
Globally, only 52% of children with HIV have access to treatment, a proportion that has increased only slightly over the past few years.
Meanwhile, among all adults living with HIV, coverage at 76% is 20 percentage points higher than that of children.
And there is an 81% gap between HIV-infected children and pregnant women.
In addition, the proportion of HIV-infected children under the age of four who are not on ART increased to 72 percent last year – as high as in 2012.
A 20-year-old pregnant woman with congenital HIV infection is taking medication to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
area lens
In 2020, pregnant and lactating women in Asia Pacific; the Caribbean; East and South Africa; Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, and West and Central Africa all experienced a decrease in treatment coverage.
And in 2021, coverage in Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa will drop even further.
With the exception of West and Central Africa, which continue to see the highest burden of mother-to-child transmission, none of the above regions have recovered to 2019 levels, putting newborns’ lives at risk. higher risk.
In 2021, more than 75,000 new infections in children occurred because pregnant women were not diagnosed and treated in time.
“With a renewed political commitment to strategic partnerships, the most vulnerable, and the resources to expand our programmes, we can end AIDS in children, youth, and youth,” said Ms. Bains. adolescents and pregnant women”.
