Ending AIDS in Children and Adolescents – a Roadmap to 2030
We need leadership, activism, and investments to do what’s right for kids!
Attention in the HIV response is back on children. Urgent action is needed to fix glaring inequities and missed targets, as reported in the UNAIDS We are in Danger report. A new Global Alliance to end AIDS in children by 2030 has been launched to close these gaps so that all children can start free and stay AIDS free.
It is unacceptable that:
- There are still high burden countries and settings where progress in preventing vertical transmission has flatlined with limited or inconsistent access to a comprehensive package of quality care.
- Only half (52%) of children living with HIV are on life-saving treatment, far behind adults where three quarters (76%) are receiving antiretrovirals.
- Two fifths of all children born with HIV go undiagnosed and two thirds are not treated.
- New infections continue to occur disproportionately among adolescent girls and young women, with a new infection every two minutes and (80%) of these new infections occurring in Eastern and Southern Africa.
- While children may represent only (5%) of people living with HIV, they account for (15%) of all AIDS related deaths. Fifty adolescent girls die every day, with AIDS-related illnesses remaining the leading cause of death among adolescent girls and women aged 15–49 years in Africa.
