A child or young person under 20 becomes infected with HIV every 100 seconds, UNICEF says

Last year, approximately every 100 seconds, a child or young person under the age of 20 was infected with HIV, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Wednesday.

Prevention and care efforts for children remain among the weakest among the major affected populations, and in 2019 just under half of the world’s children lacked access to treatments that could potentially affect them. saves life, according to a UNICEF report.

Nearly 320,000 children and adolescents have recently been infected with HIV and 110,000 children have died of AIDS in the past year.

“Children are still infected at an alarming rate and continue to die of AIDS. This was the situation even before COVID-19 disrupted vital HIV treatment and prevention services, putting countless other lives at risk.” said Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of UNICEF.

According to UNICEF, the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened inequalities in access to life-saving HIV treatment and prevention services for children, adolescents and pregnant women around the world, and there are serious concerns that “One-third of Countries with a high burden of HIV-related diseases face disruptions related to the novel coronavirus.