UNICEF has warned, on the occasion of this Thursday’s celebration of World AIDS Day, of the «stagnation» that has occurred in recent years in the prevention and treatment of HIV in children and adolescents aged 0 to 19 years and pregnant women.
According to the latest global report published by the organization on children and AIDS, some 110,000 minors died in 2021 from HIV-related causes and, in addition, 310,000 new infections were recorded, bringing the total number of young people living with the disease to 2.7 million.
«Progress in HIV prevention and treatment for children, adolescents and pregnant women has virtually stalled over the past three years, and many regions have yet to reach the service coverage they had before the COVID-19 pandemic. This is in addition to the existing and widening gap between children and adults in terms of access to treatment,» said UNICEF’s Associate Chief of HIV, Anurita Bains.
Also, although children have «long lagged behind» adults in the AIDS response, the «stagnation» seen over the past three years is «unprecedented» and puts «too many young people» at risk of disease and death.
«Children are being left unprotected because we are failing to track them down, test them and prescribe life-saving treatment. Every day that passes without progress, more than 300 children and adolescents lose out in their fight against HIV,» he added, warning that «if the causes of inequality in access to treatment are not addressed, the eradication of HIV in children and adolescents will remain a distant dream.»
However, despite all this, UNICEF has recognized that the long-term trends «continue to be positive». Between 2010 and 2021, new infections decreased by 52 percent among children aged 0 to 14 years, as well as among adolescents aged 15 to 19 years, where they decreased by 40 percent. Similarly, lifetime antiretroviral treatment coverage among pregnant women living with AIDS has increased from 46 percent to 81 percent in a single decade.
«Although the overall number of children living with HIV is declining, the treatment gap between children and adults continues to grow. In countries prioritized by UNICEF in the HIV response, antiretroviral treatment coverage among children was 56 percent in 2020, falling to 54 percent in 2021. This decline is due to a number of factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and other global crises, which have accentuated marginalization and poverty, but it is also a reflection of weak political will and a tepid response to HIV among children. Globally, the percentage of children living with the disease who have access to treatment was even lower, at 52 percent, a figure that has barely increased in recent years,» the organization said.
Meanwhile, they add, coverage among all adults living with HIV (76%) exceeded that of children by more than 20 percentage points, although the gap is «even greater» among minors and pregnant women with AIDS (81%). In addition, the percentage of children aged 0 to 4 years living with the disease and not receiving antiretroviral treatment has increased worryingly in the last seven years. In 2021 it reached 72 percent, a figure similar to that of 2012.
Several regions, including West and Central Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa, also saw a decline in treatment coverage among pregnant and breastfeeding women during 2020.
At the same time, in 2021, Asia and the Pacific, and the Middle East and North Africa, further declines were observed. With the exception of West and Central Africa, which continues to have the highest incidence of mother-to-child transmission, none of the above regions have returned to the coverage levels achieved in 2019.
«These shocks put the lives of newborns at greater risk. In 2021, there were more than 75,000 new infections in children due to undiagnosed and untreated pregnant women. With renewed political commitment to reach the most vulnerable, strategic partnerships and resources to scale up programs, we can eradicate HIV in children, adolescents and women,» Bains concluded.
