New York, December 1: Girls continue to be more than twice as likely to contract HIV than boys, according to the Unicefā€™s latest report. The report said girls continue to bear the brunt of the HIV epidemic, even though total infections among girls aged 10-19 have almost halved since 2010 -- from 190,000 to 98,000. In 2022, nearly 98,000 adolescent girls aged 10-19 were infected with HIV -- or 1,900 new infections every week.

This is in-part, due 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, the report said. Difference Between AIDS and HIV: Navigating the Complexities of These Interconnected Health Conditions.

ā€œIt is unacceptable that adolescent girls, who should be planning their futures, continue to bear the heaviest burden of HIV infection,ā€ said Anurita Bains, Associate Director of HIV/AIDS at Unicef, in a statement.

ā€œWe -- 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,ā€ Bains added.

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.

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, the report said. HIV-Positive Couples Tie the Nuptial Knot at 'Sevalay' in Maharashtra's Latur.

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, the report noted.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 18, 2023 01:43 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).