Report released by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) indicates that at least 1.7 million children living with HIV were not on treatment in 2020.
According to the Start Free, Stay Free, AIDS Free initiative, UNAIDS and partners, over 150 000 children were newly infected with HIV, four times more than the 2020 target of 40 000.
A joint press statement issued in Geneva, Switzerland on July 21 by UNAIDS and partners warned that progress towards ending AIDS among children, adolescents and young women has stalled and none of the targets for 2020 were achieved.
The report shows that the total number of children on treatment declined for the first time, despite the fact that nearly 800 000 children living with HIV are not currently on treatment.
It also revealed that opportunities to identify infants and young children living with HIV early are being missed more than one third of children born to mothers living with HIV were not tested. If untreated, around 50% of children living with HIV die before they reach their second birthday.
Reacting to the report, Shannon Hader, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Programme said, it was unfortunate that despite early and dramatic progress recorded over the years, children are falling way behind adults.
Over 20 years ago, initiatives for families and children to prevent vertical transmission and to eliminate children dying of AIDS truly kicks started what has now become a global AIDS response.
This stemmed from an unprecedented activation of all partners, yet, despite early and dramatic progress, despite more tools and knowledge than ever before, children are falling way behind adults and way behind our goals.
Shannon said inequalities are striking, children are nearly 40% less likely than adults to be on life-saving treatment (54% of children versus 74% of adults), and account for a disproportionate number of deaths (just 5% of all people living with HIV are children, but children account for 15% of all AIDS-related deaths).
“This is about children’s right to health and healthy lives, their value in our societies. It’s time to reactivate on all fronts—we need the leadership, activism, and investments to do what’s right for kids’’, Hader said.
The report while highlighting major disparities between countries revealed that 11 countries account for nearly 70% of the missing children living with HIV but not on treatment.
Although the 2020 targets were missed, the 21 focus countries in Africa made better progress than the non focus countries.
The report also reviewed three actions necessary to end new HIV infections among children in the focus countries.
Furthermore the Executive Director, Programmes said, UNAIDS and partners will continue to work together to develop new frameworks to address the unfinished agenda
