The United Nations Children’s Fund, has revealed that more than 47 children and adolescents died every day from AIDS-related causes in 2018, while only 35 percent of those living with HIV have access to life-saving treatment.
According to a global snapshot on children, HIV and AIDS released by UNICEF in advance of World AIDS Day 2019, low access to antiretroviral treatment and limited prevention efforts are the leading causes for these deaths, with only 54 per cent of children aged 0-14 living with HIV globally in 2018 or 790,000 children receiving lifesaving antiretroviral therapy.
The latest global data showed that regional disparities in access to treatment among children living with HIV is very high – with West and Central Africa faring worst.
The report further revealed that access is highest in South Asia, at 91 per cent, followed by the Middle East and North Africa (73 percent), Eastern and Southern Africa (61 percent), East Asia and the Pacific (61 percent), Latin America and the Caribbean (46 percent) and West and Central Africa (28 percent).
The report however, showed that in 2018, around 160,000 children aged 0-9 were newly infected with HIV, bringing the total number of children in this age group living with HIV to 1.1 million.
According to the report, 89,000 children under the age of five were infected during pregnancy or birth and 76,000 were infected during breastfeeding in 2018.
Also, 140,000 adolescent girls were newly infected with HIV in 2018, compared to 50,000 adolescent boys.
Reacting to the report, UNICEF Nigeria Country Representative, Peter Hawkins, said: “Progress has been made in the battle against HIV and AIDS – but we must do more, especially when it comes to Nigerian children and adolescents.
“Testing and treating for children and adolescents is a matter of life and death – and we must choose life.”
Mothers’ access to antiretroviral therapy to prevent the transmission of the virus to their babies according to the report, has increased globally, reaching 82 per cent, up from 44 per cent less than 10 years ago. This figure in Nigeria is 44 percent, up from 22 percent in 2009.
For Hawkins: “It is good news that more and more pregnant women are receiving antiretroviral treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, which has helped avert about 2 million new HIV infections and prevented the deaths of over 1 million children under five years old around the word.”
“But we need to see the same kind of progress in ensuring that children who already have the virus are receiving lifesaving treatment. HIV programmes need to be fully funded and equipped to preserve, protect and improve the quality of life for Nigerian children. We cannot and must not abandon these children”, he added.
To end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat for future generations, UNICEF is urging governments and partners to improve HIV testing and treatment data for children and adolescents to better respond to the needs of this vulnerable population.
The UN agency is also calling on stakeholders to invest in and implement effective and innovative interventions to urgently close the persistent testing and treatment gap for children and adolescents living with HIV.
