The UN's children's fund, UNICEF, sounded the alarm on Friday regarding the alarming rate of new HIV infections among young women and girls, highlighting their limited access to prevention and treatment services.

In a report released ahead of World AIDS Day on Saturday, UNICEF revealed that 96,000 girls and 41,000 boys aged 15-19 were newly infected with HIV in 2023. This staggering statistic indicates that seven out of every ten new adolescent infections were among girls. In sub-Saharan Africa, the situation is even more dire, with nine out of ten new HIV infections among 15-19 year-olds being among girls, according to the most recent data available.

"Children and adolescents are not fully benefiting from the expanded access to treatment and prevention services," said Anurita Bains, UNICEF's associate director of HIV/AIDS. "However, children living with HIV must be prioritized when it comes to allocating resources and efforts to scale up treatment for all, including the adoption of innovative testing technologies."

Despite significant progress, access to lifesaving antiretroviral therapy remains uneven. While 77 percent of adults living with HIV have access to these treatments, only 57 percent of children under 14 and 65 percent of teenagers aged 15-19 can obtain the necessary medicine. Children under 14 account for only three percent of those living with HIV but represented 12 percent—76,000—of AIDS-related deaths in 2023.

According to a report from UNAIDS, around 1.3 million people contracted HIV in 2023, which is more than three times the number needed to meet the UN's goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. Despite this, the number of AIDS-related deaths has dropped to 630,000 last year, the lowest level since the peak of 2.1 million in 2004. This progress is largely attributed to antiretroviral treatments that reduce the viral load in patients.

The report also warned that out of the nearly 40 million people living with HIV worldwide, approximately 9.3 million are not receiving treatment.

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