Just as the countries all across the globe join hands to commemorate World AIDS Day under the theme “Know Your Status”, India needs to know that it is the farthest behind.
Other countries lagging in the war on the HIV epidemic are Pakistan, with 5,800 children and adolescents suffering from AIDS, followed by Nepal (1,600), and Bangladesh (less than 1,000).
This data came as a result of a UNICEF report analyzed the global progress in ending AIDS among children and adolescents by 2030. The report is titled as Children, HIV and AIDS: The World in 2030.
The important takeaways from the report are–
POSITIVES
- South Asia, however has set a record in 2017 by tackling the transmission among children. In 2017, the number children under the age of 5 who were newly diagnosed with HIV fell by 43% compared to 2010, marking a decrease greater than the 35% recorded globally.
- 73% of the afflicted children between 0-14 years had been initiated on lifesaving antiretroviral therapy (ART), marking a 50% increase than the earlier 2010 data.
- There has been a decline in AIDS-related deaths and deceleration in new infections
- Transmission from mother to child fell by 40% in the last eight years.
NEGATIVES:
- India has accounted for an estimated 120,000 cases in 2017.
- India contains the highest number of people aged 0-19 years living with HIV in South Asia. More than half of these children will die even before they turn five.
- 360,000 adolescents are projected to die of AIDS-related diseases between 2018 and 2030 without additional investment in HIV prevention, testing and treatment programmes
- Around two million new infections will be introduced by the end of 2030.
- WARNING: Around 80 adolescents will be dying of AIDS daily around the world if we don’t accelerate progress in preventing transmission.
- “The report makes it clear, without the shadow of a doubt, that the world is off track when it comes to ending AIDS among children and adolescents by 2030,” said UNICEF chief Henrietta Fore.
- Girls still account for two-thirds of all adolescent HIV infections.