儘管取得了進展，青春期女孩仍然首當其衝地受到愛滋病毒流行的影響，2022 年新增感染人數將達到 98,000 人
兒童和青少年在檢測和獲得藥物方面面臨巨大的治療差距
2023 年 12 月 1 日 / 新聞稿 – 聯合國兒童基金會
紐約，2023 年12 月1 日－根據聯合國兒童基金會在世界愛滋病日之前發布的最新《全球愛滋病毒和愛滋病兒童全球概況》，在2022 年，有近98,000 名10-19 歲的少女感染愛滋病毒，即每週新增1,900 名愛滋病毒感染者。
儘管自 2010 年以來，10 至 19 歲女孩的感染總數幾乎減少了一半——從 19 萬人減少到 98,000 人，但去年女孩感染愛滋病毒的可能性仍然是男孩的兩倍多。 2022年，全球0-19歲兒童及青少年將新增27萬名愛滋病毒感染者，使愛滋病毒青少年感染者總數達到260萬人。
聯合國兒童基金會愛滋病毒/愛滋病副主任阿努麗塔·貝恩斯(Anurita Bains) 表示：「本應規劃自己未來的青春期女孩卻繼續承受著愛滋病毒感染的最沉重負擔，這是不可接受的」。「我們——聯合國、社區、政府和組織——必須消除愛滋病毒對他們的健康和福祉構成威脅的障礙。這包括確保少女和年輕女性的性健康和生殖健康及權利得到滿足」。
女童繼續首當其衝地受到愛滋病毒流行的影響，部分原因是性別不平等，這往往導致女童被剝奪了談判安全性行為的權力；表現在遠離醫療中心的貧困社區；缺乏獲得愛滋病毒預防以及性健康和生殖健康方案的機會。
在撒哈拉以南非洲地區，10-24 歲少女和年輕女性的愛滋病毒感染率一直是男性的三倍多。
最新數據顯示，東非和南部非洲在0-19歲年齡組中持續承擔壓倒性的愛滋病毒感染負擔，其次是西非和中非； 東亞和太平洋地區； 拉丁美洲和加勒比海地區以及南亞。
全球概況進一步強調，與成人相比，兒童和青少年在獲得治療方面面臨相當大的不平等。在全球範圍內，近 100 萬 0-19 歲的愛滋病毒感染者沒有接受治療，其中超過一半（約 60%）生活在東部和南部非洲。
兒童診斷過程繁瑣； 對嬰兒的具體檢測要求在中等和低收入國家並不總是可行； 0-14 歲兒童中只有 57% 接受抗病毒治療，而 15 歲及以上兒童接受抗病毒治療的比例為 77%，原因之一是缺乏適合年輕族群年齡的抗病毒藥物。
終結愛滋病的進展仍然緩慢，到 2022 年，全球將有 99,000 名 0-19 歲兒童和青少年因愛滋病相關原因死亡，佔所有愛滋病相關死亡人數的 15%，儘管該年齡組僅佔 7%愛滋病毒感染者。
Despite progress, adolescent girls continue to bear the brunt of the HIV epidemic with 98,000 new infections in 2022
Children and adolescents face significant treatment gaps in testing and access to medication
01 December 2023 / Press release- UNICEF
NEW YORK, 1 December 2023 – Nearly 98,000 adolescent girls aged 10-19 were infected with HIV in 2022 – or 1,900 new infections every week – according to UNICEF’s latest Global Snapshot on Children with HIV and AIDS, released ahead of World AIDS Day.
While total infections among girls aged 10-19 have almost halved since 2010 – from 190,000 to 98,000 – girls were still more than twice as likely to contract HIV last year, than boys. Globally, there were 270,000 new HIV infections among all children and adolescents aged 0-19 in 2022, bringing the total number of young people living with HIV to 2.6 million.
“It is unacceptable that adolescent girls, who should be planning their futures, continue to bear the heaviest burden of HIV infection,” said UNICEF Associate Director of HIV/AIDS Anurita Bains. “We – the UN, communities, governments and organisations – must eradicate the obstacles that make HIV a threat to their health and wellbeing. This includes ensuring the sexual and reproductive health and rights of adolescent girls and young women are met.”
Girls continue to bear the brunt of the HIV epidemic due, in-part, to gender inequalities which often result in girls being disempowered to negotiate safe sex; poverty that manifests in communities being located far from healthcare centres; and a lack of access to HIV prevention and sexual and reproductive health programmes.
In sub-Saharan Africa, HIV prevalence among adolescent girls and young women, aged 10-24 years, is persistently over three times higher than among their male counterparts.
The latest data shows that Eastern and Southern Africa continues to carry the overwhelming burden of HIV infection among the 0-19 age group, followed by West and Central Africa; East Asia and the Pacific; Latin America and the Caribbean and South Asia.
The Global Snapshot further highlights how children and young adolescents face considerable inequities when it comes to access to treatment, compared to adults. Globally, nearly one million people aged 0-19 living with HIV are not receiving treatment, and more than half of this group – about 60 per cent – are in Eastern and Southern Africa.
Cumbersome diagnostic processes for children; specific testing requirements for infants that are not always available in middle- and lower-income countries; and a lack of age-appropriate antiretroviral medication for younger age groups are among the reasons that just 57 per cent of children aged 0–14 years are receiving antiretroviral treatment, compared to 77 per cent of people aged 15 and above.
Progress toward ending AIDS remains slow, with 99,000 children and adolescents aged 0-19 years dying globally due to AIDS-related causes in 2022, accounting for 15 per cent of all AIDS-related deaths, even though this age group comprises just 7 per cent of people living with HIV.