Xinhua News Agency, United Nations, November 25 (Reporter Wang Jiangang) A report released by the United Nations Children’s Fund on the 25th shows that a child under the age of 20 was infected with HIV about every 100 seconds last year. The report calls on governments to intensify their efforts to prevent HIV infection among adolescents and adolescents.
The report said that AIDS prevention and treatment among adolescent children are at a lower level among the main affected groups, and nearly half of adolescent children do not have access to life-saving treatment. According to the data, in 2019, nearly 320,000 adolescent children were infected with HIV and 110,000 children died of AIDS.
Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of UNICEF, said that the number of HIV infections among adolescents and children has increased alarmingly, and many children have died of AIDS. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted vital HIV prevention and treatment efforts, putting more lives at risk.
The report points out that although some progress has been made in the fight against AIDS, these progresses vary greatly between regions, especially children and adolescents in different regions. The coverage of antiretroviral treatment for adolescents and children in the Middle East and North Africa region reached 81%, while in Latin America and the Caribbean, West Africa and Central Africa, this coverage rate is only 46% and 32%, respectively.
