The United Nations children’s fund recently raised the alarm over the high rate of new HIV infections among young women and girls, warning that they lack access to prevention and treatment, in a report released ahead of World Aids Day.
The UNICEF report said that 96,000 girls and 41,000 boys aged 15-19 were newly infected with HIV in 2023, meaning seven out of 10 new adolescent infections were among girls.
In sub-Saharan Africa, nine out of 10 new HIV infections among 15-19 year olds were among girls in the most recent period for which data is available.
“Children and adolescents are not fully reaping the benefits of scaled up access to treatment and prevention services,” said UNICEF associate director of HIV/AIDS Anurita Bains.
“Yet children living with HIV must be prioritized when it comes to investing resources and efforts to scale up treatment for all, this includes the expansion of innovative testing technologies.”
While as many as 77 percent of adults living with HIV have access to antiretroviral therapy, just 57 percent of children 14 and younger, and 65 percent of teenagers aged 15-19, can obtain life saving medicine. Children 15 and younger account for only 3 percent of those living with HIV but accounted for 12 percent of AIDS-related deaths in 2023.
Around 1.3 million people contracted the disease in 2023, a number that is three times higher than needed to reach the UN goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2023.
The tricky issue of providing prevention and access to treatment versus HIV infections needs to be tackled if today’s youth, especially the young women and girls, are going to be protected from contracting the disease. If government and the private sector has been able to show that adequate protections can be made available for adults, then it is time to address the serious concern that girls and boys are also contracting HIV infections, which can be prevented and treated if only we make it our business to provide them the same protections and options in the unfortunate event of infection.
The most difficult part will be identifying the high risk groups and areas, so prevention and treatment efforts can be focused properly. However, this will only be possible if the people responsible can overcome the apprehensions and the taboo nature of the issue, especially in areas where conservative values can hinder well-meaning efforts to protect our youth.*
