AIDS, Unicef: 301 children and adolescents die every day

Every day 301 children and adolescents (0-19 years) die from causes related to AIDS and 850 new infections occur in the same age group.

    Despite representing only 7% of all people living with HIV, children and adolescents account for 17% - or 110,000 - of all AIDS-related deaths and 21% - or 310,000 - of new infections from HIV in 2021. Girls have a rate of new HIV infections three times higher than their male peers.

Globally, about three-quarters (77%) of new infections among adolescents occur among girls.

These are the data from the Unicef ​​report, "Addressing inequities in the global response. Children, adolescents and AIDS in 2022", launched on the occasion of the World Day against

    The majority of deaths from AIDS among children - explains Unicef ​​- occurred in eastern and southern Africa (47% of the total) and in western and central Africa (39% of the total).

In sub-Saharan Africa, HIV remains a leading cause of death among adolescents, mainly due to the delay in adolescent identification and treatment.

According to 2021 global estimates, only 878,000 of the 1.68 million children under 15 with HIV worldwide have received antiretroviral treatment, which represents 52% coverage.

Furthermore, only 59% of children (aged 0-14) living with HIV know their status, and one in five of those on treatment are not virally suppressed.

    These data underline how disadvantaged children are in the HIV-infected community, Unicef ​​says. Although comparable global estimates for adults 15 years and older are also below target, antiretroviral treatment coverage among adults is substantially better: 86% of adults living with HIV know their status, 76% are on antiretroviral therapy and, of those on treatment, 92% are virally suppressed.

For Unicef, "however dramatic, these data represent progress compared to the situation in 2010, when 320,000 new infections were estimated among children aged between 0 and 14 and 240,000 deaths from HIV-related causes in this age group ".