Children and adolescents living with HIV continue to be left behind in access to early diagnosis, life-saving treatment, and care, as shrinking funding threatens to increase their risks and reverse decades of progress, UNICEF warned today ahead of World AIDS Day.
A recently published UNICEF-UNAIDS modelling shows that, if programme coverage falls by half, an additional 1.1 million children could acquire HIV, and 820,000 more could die of AIDS-related causes by 2040 - pushing the total toll among children to three million infections and 1.8 million AIDS-related deaths.
Even maintaining current service levels will still result in 1.9 million new infections and 990,000 AIDS-related deaths among children by 2040 due to the slow pace of progress, according to the modelling.
"The world was making progress in the HIV response, but persistent gaps remained even before abrupt global funding cuts disrupted services," said UNICEF Associate Director of HIV and AIDS Anurita Bains. "While countries moved quickly to mitigate the impact of the funding cuts, ending AIDS in children is in jeopardy without focused action. The choice is clear - invest today or risk reversing decades of progress and losing millions of young lives."
These projected risks underscore findings from the latest 2024 global data, before abrupt funding cuts disrupted many services globally:
- 120,000 children (0-14 years) acquired HIV, and another 75,000 children died of AIDS-related causes - about 200 deaths every day.
- Among 15-19-year-olds, 150,000 acquired HIV, of which 66 per cent were among girls. In sub-Saharan Africa, 85 per cent of new HIV infections in this age group are among girls.
- Only 55 per cent of children living with HIV received antiretroviral therapy, compared to 78 per cent of adults, leaving an estimated 620,000 children without treatment.
- Sub-Saharan Africa bears the heaviest burden, accounting for 88 per cent of children living with HIV, 83 per cent of new child HIV infections, and 84 per cent of AIDS-related child deaths.
In Eastern and Southern Africa, early infant diagnosis reached 74 per cent of exposed infants and treatment reached 93 per cent of pregnant women living with HIV, compared to 31 per cent and 56 per cent, respectively, in Western and Central Africa.
- However, progress is possible with sustained commitment. Between 2000 and 2024, HIV services averted an estimated 4.4 million infections and 2.1 million AIDS-related deaths in children.
- By the end of 2024, 21 countries and territories had been certified for eliminating vertical transmission of HIV and/or syphilis, with the Maldives becoming the first to eliminate vertical transmission of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B. Botswana and Namibia were certified as on the path to elimination despite high HIV burdens.
UNICEF urges governments and partners to protect and prioritise HIV services for mothers, children, and adolescents - scaling up prevention of mother-to-child transmission and paediatric treatment, and integrating HIV care into broader health systems - and ensuring increased and predictable donor support through sustainable and innovative financing.
