Every 3 minutes, a teenager is infected with HIV

In 2018, young people continue to to be hit hard by the AIDS epidemic. In total, three million people under the age of 19 are currently living with HIV. Last year alone, 130,000 children and adolescents under the age of 19 died of AIDS and 430,000 contracted the virus. And girls are especially concerned because every three minutes, a teenager is infected, said Wednesday Unicef, alerting on a "crisis" public health forgotten. Two-thirds of all HIV infections in the world are among girls, according to a report by the UN agency presented Wednesday at the International AIDS Conference.

While the number of deaths has decreased in all other age groups since 2010, it stagnates among adolescents . "In most countries, women and girls do not have access to the necessary information and services or even have the opportunity to refuse unprotected bad," the executive director said in a statement. Unicef, Henrietta Fore. "HIV is spreading rapidly among the most vulnerable and marginalized, placing adolescent girls at the heart of the crisis," she added.

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The epidemic spreads faster among girls

According to Unicef, the spread of the epidemic among adolescent girls is explained by "early badual intercourse, including with older men, forced relationships, the power struggle that does not allow to say no, poverty, and the lack of access to confidential counseling services and screening ". "We know it's linked to the inferior status of women and girls around the world," South African actress Charlize Theron told conference delegates.

"We need to make sure that girls and women are financially secure enough not to engage in bad work. We need to ensure that they are well informed about the modes of transmission and how to protect themselves, "said UNICEF Ambbadador Angélique Kidjo in an essay published in the report. "And, of course, we need to ensure that they have access to all the services and medications they need to stay healthy. First and foremost, we need to empower girls and women – and education is again often the best way to achieve this. "

However, initiatives launched in recent years have made significant progress. in preventing the transmission of the virus from mother to child. As a result, the number of new infections among people under four years old has been reduced by one-third between 2010 and 2017. And now, four out of five HIV-positive pregnant women have access to treatment that keeps them healthy and reduces their risk. the risk of transmission to their newborns