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SOME 320 CHILDREN and adolescents died every day from AIDS-related causes in 2018, according to a report published by Unicef today.
Low access to antiretroviral treatment, in addition to limited prevention efforts, is the leading cause for these deaths, the report found.
Only 54% of children aged 0-14 living with HIV in 2018 (790,000 children) received lifesaving antiretroviral therapy.
The data in the report showed deep regional disparities in access to treatment among children living with HIV.
Access is highest in South Asia at 91%, followed by the Middle East and North Africa (73%), Eastern and Southern Africa (61%), East Asia and the Pacific (61%), Latin America and the Caribbean (46%) and West and Central Africa (28%).
Mothers’ access to antiretroviral therapy to prevent the transmission of the virus to their babies has increased globally, reaching 82%, up from 44% less than 10 years ago, according to the report.
However, disparities between regions persist, with Eastern and Southern Africa offering the highest rates of coverage (92%), and the Middle East and North Africa offering the lowest (53%).
The data also found that in 2018, around 160,000 children aged 0-9 were newly infected with HIV, bringing the total number of children in this age group living with HIV to 1.1 million.
89,000 children under the age of five were infected during pregnancy or birth and 76,000 were infected during breastfeeding in 2018.
“The world is on the cusp of making great gains in the battle against HIV and AIDS, but we must not rest on the laurels of progress made,” said Unicef executive director Henrietta Fore.
Neglecting testing and treatment initiatives for children and adolescents is a matter of life and death, and for them, we must choose life.
Fore said that giving more and more pregnant women antiretroviral treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission has “helped averted around 2 million new HIV infections and prevented the deaths of over 1 million children under five years old”.
“We need to see similar progress in paediatric treatment. Closing this gap between children and their mothers could significantly increase the life expectancy and quality of life of children infected with HIV,” Fore said.
To end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat for future generations, Unicef is now urging governments and partners to:
“The cost of failing to test and treat every child at risk of HIV is one we measure in children’s lives and futures – a cost that no society can afford. HIV initiatives need to be fully funded and equipped to preserve, protect and improve the quality of life for children, in the first and second decades,” Fore said.
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21 years ago! Jesus i feel old.
They missed a trick not broadcasting the show in English, the Brits would have lapped it up .
Have you never watched a movie or a programme with subtitles?
Yes gomorrah. Very good show
I wonder what would happen those viewing figures if they removed the subtitles?
I’ve been diligently trying to teach myself Irish with several electronic and online sources and dictionaries, and was fortunate enough to run across a source for a season or two of early Ros na Rún. I wish they’d make it available on DVD or something… I’d buy the whole set. It’s fascinating to watch how the language is used in everyday situations and see what I can figure out between my lessons and from the captions. Plus I enjoyed the storylines in the seasons I got to see. They were soap opera, sure, but interesting nonetheless.
no Rodrigo its you who should get a life
Audra, how you getting on learning the language ?
Who are these uneducated white people you speak of ? Oh and in my opinion Irish is not crap at all ..
Wow what’s your problem with us Irish speakers?
He just hates anything remotely Irish Niall, he often comments on other articles that Ireland should be taken over by the UK again. He has an agenda.
You should email tg4 and ask for a few series to be added on their online player perhaps?
@Suzie, I’m working my way through the Duolingo app on my phone, and Bitesize Irish lessons. I try to listen to Raidió Rí-Rá although it doesn’t always coincide with my schedule. (The people there are really nice and sent me some Ceol CDs – listening to songs I know in Irish has also been useful for trying to get the cadence of the language and the usage, same as Ros na Rún.) And I spend some time with written Irish sources at CELT using an Irish dictionary and teanglann.ie, trying to figure out vocabulary and grammar by translating.
I just recently ran across scriobh.ie and many of its resources, including the online Dineen (Dinneen?) dictionary at UCC. Oh, and the eDIL resource, plus one I can’t think of the name of where there is a line by line English translation of a story or a poem. It’s very helpful. I keep meaning to buy a textbook but have not had time to research a useful one up to now.
Unfortunately my second language is German so it’s been somewhat difficult to reset my brain to a completely different grammatical structure. :D I can’t even say I’m getting the hang of it, but I’m enjoying it very much. I’m a historian by training and it’s exciting to me that Irish is still spoken and used after thousands of years, even to the point that there is an Irish soap opera.
Streets ahead of Fair City.
This Autumn…. Local businessman sells tickets for the Galway races at 5 times their worth and gets banged up in Galway for ticket touting… Lawyer says it could happen to anyone…
Update : An Observer has been arrested and charged with talking about something that is unmentionable. The Attorney General states that “..it could happen to any of you.!”.
Rolling Coverage : More when we decide to tell you….
Paddy will be out before me…
I cant wait for Ros Na Run to return next month.
Impossible to take soaps seriously when they’re in Gaelic.
Or rock music.
Impossible to take any Irish man seriously when they shun anything because it’s not in Irish…or in your particular case Joey, anything that’s not in the Queen’s English.
have your say