UNICEF Calls for More Efforts to Prevent Adolescents From AIDS Infection

United Nations  — The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Monday that much work remains to be done to protect children and adolescents from HIV/AIDS infection.

Adolescents are dying of AIDS at alarming rates despite global remarkable progress in tackling the disease over the past 15 years, UNICEF said as the 21st International AIDS Conference gets underway in Durban, South Africa, this week.

AIDS is still the No. 2 cause of death for those aged 10-19 globally, and No. 1 in Africa, according to UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.

UNICEF said prevalence has brought the HIV/AIDS transmission rate down by roughly 70 percent worldwide since 2000 thanks to concerted action to prevent mother-to-child transmission in countries with high HIV/AIDS, including in sub-Saharan Africa.

Over the last 15 years, concerted action to prevent mother-to-child transmission programs have prevented some 1.6 million new HIV infections in children, globally, while the provision of anti-retroviral treatment has saved 8.8 million lives (people of all ages).

However, the numbers of AIDS-related deaths among adolescents 15-19 years have more than doubled since 2000.

Globally in 2015, there were on average 29 new infections an hour among those in this age group, UNICEF said. (PNA/Xinhua) JMC/EBP