It is very striking that 76% of HIV-positive adults have access to antiretroviral therapy, while this figure drops to 52% in the case of children infected with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). This is one of the many differences in the fight against AIDS, and one of the reasons why UNAIDS, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) have decided to launch an initiative to end this health problem in minors before the year 2030.
This new action against childhood AIDS has been presented at the 24th International Conference on AIDS, which has taken place in Montreal (Canada). It has shown the latest data on the disease and, according to UNAIDS, 1.2 million children and adolescents up to 19 years of age are HIV carriers and are not being treated.
Of the total, they estimate that some 800,000 would be between 0 and 14 years old, and the remaining 400,000 between 15 and 19, who would have been recently infected. The main objective of the initiative that is going to be launched is to guarantee access to antiretroviral treatment for all minors before 2030.
1.2 million children and adolescents up to 19 years of age are HIV carriers and are still not being treated
Participants in the new alliance include national governments of the most affected countries, international partners, civil society organizations, including the Global Network of People Living with HIV. The countries that have signed up for the first phase of the initiative are: Angola, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Actions to eliminate HIV infection in children by 2030
“UN agencies noted that stigma, discrimination, punitive laws and policies, violence, and entrenched social and gender inequalities in societies make it difficult for women, adolescents, and children to access the care they require. ”, they explain from the United Nations.
All preventive and therapeutic measures carried out in children under 20 years of age so far are insufficient, according to the agencies. For all these reasons, the organizations have stressed that strong political support is necessary at the local, national and global levels to try to prevent the transmission of the virus from mother to child, and to provide access to pediatric and adolescent treatment for those who are seropositive.
“No child should be born or grow up with HIV, and no child with HIV should go untreated. The Alliance is an opportunity to renew our commitment to children and their families to come together, speak and act purposefully and in solidarity with all mothers, children and adolescents,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
The measures that will be launched thanks to this new alliance focus on four basic collective actions:
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