The United Nations Children’s Fund has in its report, titled: “Statistical Update on Children, Adolescents and AIDS,” described AIDS as the number one cause of death among teenagers in Africa.
Craig McClure, Head of UNICEF’s global HIV/AIDS programmes, said on Friday in Johannesburg, South Africa that among HIV-affected populations, adolescents are the only group for which the mortality figures are not decreasing.
McClure said it was critical that young people who are HIV-positive had access to treatment, care and support.
McClure said at the same time, those who were HIV-negative must have access to the knowledge and means to help them to stay that way.
He said almost half of those living with HIV were in six countries.
These are South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, India, Mozambique and Tanzania.
McClure said Aids was the second leading cause of death among adolescents globally.
He said most adolescents who died of AIDS-related illnesses acquired HIV when they were infants, 10 to 15 years ago, and then survived into their teenage years, sometimes without knowing their HIV status.
McClure said the agency’s latest report had indicated that in sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the highest prevalence of the virus, girls were “vastly more affected”.
He said: “This accounted for seven in 10 new infections among 15-19 year olds.
“Among adolescents in that age group in the region, just over one in 10 is tested for HIV.”
McClure said since 2000, nearly 1.3 million new infections among children had been averted, largely due to advances in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
dpa/NAN.