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In a report published Thursday in Children, HIV and AIDS: The World in 2030, current trends indicate that AIDS-related deaths and new infections are slowing down, but that the downward trajectory is not happening fast enough.
"The report clearly shows, without a shadow of a doubt, that the world is not on track to end AIDS in children and adolescents by 2030" , said UNICEF Chief Henrietta Fore: The end of AIDS is an ambitious goal envisioned by the coalition of United Nations agencies created to fight the epidemic, known as the strategy accelerated by UNAIDS.
The report reveals that more than half of all children dying of AIDS will not have reached the age of five.
Ms. Fore noted that efforts to prevent and treat infections are still lacking, particularly with regard to "HIV transmission from mother to child," she said. "Programs to treat the virus and prevent its spread in older children are far from where they should be," she added.
We can not win the fight against HIV if we do not accelerate progress in preventing transmission to the next generation .–Chief of UNICEF
The number of mother-to-child infections has decreased by about 40% in the last eight years, but girls still account for two-thirds of all HIV infections among adolescents, and infection rates among older children are those who recede more slowly, according to the report. current data.
In addition, the report cites a global goal of reducing the number of HIV-infected children by 2030 to 1.4 million, while the projected number to date of 1.9 million shows that the world has lost about 500,000 people.
Currently, 3 million people aged 19 and under are infected with HIV worldwide.
Two million new infections could be prevented by 2030 if global goals are achieved – that is, adequate access to HIV prevention, care and treatment services, as well as screening and diagnosis .
The main gaps are the slow progress in prevention among young people and the inability to tackle the main factors of the epidemic. Many infected children and adolescents are unaware of their condition and, even if they are HIV positive, rarely adhere to appropriate treatment.
UNICEF's vision for an AIDS-free generation is to scale up family-based testing to identify children living with HIV who are undiagnosed and to make greater use of digital platforms to improve children's education. contraction and prevention of HIV and AIDS.
"We can not win the fight against HIV if we do not accelerate progress in preventing transmission to the next generation," Fore said.
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