More than 300 children and young people die every day from AIDS-related causes.

More than 300 children and young people die every day from AIDS-related causes, only about 110,000 in 2021 alone, according to a UNICEF global report that warns of an unprecedented stalemate in the fight against AIDS.

The report, released this Monday on World AIDS Day on 1 December, also says that 310,000 children and young people (0-19 years old) have recently been infected, raising the number of juveniles to 2.7 million. . living with HIV in the world.

UNICEF warns that little progress has been made in preventing and treating HIV in children, adolescents and pregnant women over the past three years, and many regions have not yet reached pre-COVID-19 levels.

“Although children have long lagged behind adults in the response to AIDS, the stagnation seen over the past three years is unprecedented and puts too many young lives at risk of illness and death,” warns UNICEF Deputy Director. to HIV/AIDS, Anurita Baines, quoted in the statement.

Anurita Baines notes that collectively we do not “find and test these children and treat them with life-saving remedies.”

“Every day that goes by without movement, more than 300 children and teenagers lose the fight against AIDS,” the official emphasizes.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) highlights that although they represent only 7% of the total number of people living with HIV, this population group accounts for 17% of all AIDS-related deaths and 21% of new cases HIV infections in 2021.

Girls account for three-quarters of all new HIV infections among adolescents, according to a report shared with Lusa.

He warns that until inequalities are addressed, “the end of AIDS among children and young people will remain a distant dream.”

However, the report indicates that long-term trends continue to be positive, noting that the number of new HIV infections among young children (0-14 years old) decreased by 52% between 2010 and 2021, and among young people (15-14 years old) 19 years old) – by 40%. .

Similarly, antiretroviral treatment coverage for pregnant women living with HIV has increased from 46% to 81% in one decade.

While the overall number of infected children is declining, the treatment gap between children and adults continues to widen.

In the HIV priority countries identified by UNICEF, antiretroviral treatment coverage for children was 56% in 2020 but dropped to 54% in 2021.

“This decline is due to several factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and other global crises that have exacerbated marginalization and poverty, but is also a reflection of weakening political will,” he stressed.

According to global estimates for 2021, only 59% of children under 14 living with HIV know their status and only 52% are on treatment.

The percentage of infected children aged zero to four who are not responding to treatment has increased over the past seven years to 72% in 2021, as high as in 2012.

“These are startlingly low results as the world enters its fifth decade of the epidemic, and it has been more than 25 years since life-saving antiretrovirals first became available,” the report says.

However, the data show that adult treatment coverage is “significantly better” with 86% aware of their status and 76% on treatment.

The report also highlights that HIV-positive pregnant women in East Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, and West and Central Africa are much less likely to receive antiretroviral treatment than women living in Africa. epicenter of the HIV epidemic.

There were over 75,000 new childhood infections in 2021 because pregnant women were not diagnosed and treated.

Anurita Baines believes that “with renewed political commitment to work with the most vulnerable, strategic partnerships and resources to scale up programs” it is possible to end AIDS in children, adolescents and pregnant women.