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Photo: Europa Press
(Caracas, July 26. News 24) About 30 adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 contracted HIV every hour in 2017 according to the new report of the 39; UNICEF. Women: at the heart of the HIV response for children, which provides statistics on the global AIDS epidemic and its impact on the most vulnerable.
It is both a health crisis and the ability to act. In most countries, women and girls do not have access to information, services, or even the ability to say "no" to unprotected sex. HIV is spreading among the most vulnerable and marginalized and leaving adolescents at the center of the crisis, "says UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
The report, presented at the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam this week, reveals that only last year 130,000 children and adolescents under 19 died of AIDS, and 430,000, almost 50 per hour, contracted the infection.
UNICEF warns that teenagers are still the most affected by the epidemic. In fact, girls and adolescents aged 10 to 19 account for almost two-thirds of the 3 million young people aged 0 to 19 living with HIV. In 2017, about 1.2 million young people aged 15 to 19 had HIV, of which 3 out of 5 were girls.
Although mortality in all other age groups, including adults, has decreased since 2010, l deaths among older adolescents (15 to 19 years) have not been reduced.
Among the factors that explain the spread of the epidemic among adolescents, UNICEF points to early sexual intercourse, including with older men, forced sex, impotence in negotiations about the possibility of having sexual relations, poverty and lack of access to confidential counseling and testing.
"THE GUARANTEES OF GIRLS AND ADOLESCENTS ARE NOT PROSTITUTED"
"We must ensure that girls and women have sufficient economic security to We need to ensure that they have adequate information about HIV transmission and how they should be protected, and, of course, that they do not have to resort to sex work. We need to make sure that they have access to all the services or medications they need to stay healthy.First of all, we must promote the empowerment of girls and women, and the l & # 39; Education is usually the best way to achieve this, "said Angelique Kidjo, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, in an essay published in the report.
The document includes 16 other trials that highlight women's contributions to the fight against AIDS. Among the signatories are Graça Machel, former First Lady of Mozambique and South Africa; Princess Mabel van Oranje; political, business and United Nations leaders; and young HIV / AIDS activists living with the virus.
"SIGNIFICANT SUCCESS" INITIATIVES IMPLEMENTED
To help curb the spread of the epidemic, UNICEF, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health, said: UNAIDS and other partners include a number of initiatives, such as the Roadmap for HIV Prevention 2020 a plan of action to accelerate barrier-based HIV prevention. such as punitive laws. and the lack of adequate services, which emphasizes the role of communities.
This initiative and another led to a "significant success" in preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, according to the findings of the report. The number of new infections among children aged 0 to 4 years was reduced by a third between 2010 and 2017. Now 4 out of 5 pregnant women living with HIV have access to treatment For example, in the Southern African region, which has long been the epicenter of the AIDS crisis, Botswana and South Africa now have maternal and maternal transmission rates. infant of only 5%. percent, and more than 90 percent of HIV-positive women follow effective treatment regimens for HIV . Nearly one hundred percent of pregnant women in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe know their HIV status.
"Women are the most affected by this epidemic, both because of the number of infections and for their role as primary caretakers of people with the disease, and should continue to be at the forefront of the fight against the epidemic.The fight is far from over ", concludes the executive director of UNICEF.
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