HIV: 30 young people become infected per day in LA and the Caribbean – 12/02/2023 – Health

Around 30 adolescents and young people are infected with HIV every day in Latin America and the Caribbean, and governments must take measures to raise awareness and implement preventive measures, said UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) on Friday (1st )

“In Latin America and the Caribbean, approximately 30 new cases are recorded every day — 11 thousand per year — of infections among adolescents and young people, aged between 10 and 19 years old”, according to the Unicef ​​report released in Panama, headquarters of your regional office.

The UN agency (United Nations) indicated that “new infections in this age group are concentrated in adolescents and young men”, but women continue to be impacted by this “epidemic”.

“Adolescent girls and women continue to be most affected by the HIV epidemic due, in part, to gender inequalities that often mean they do not have the power to negotiate safe sexual relationships,” he explained.

Furthermore, women are most affected by “poverty that manifests itself in communities far from health centers and the lack of access to HIV prevention and sexual and reproductive health programs.”

The institution also added that its “most recent data also estimate that, in Latin America and the Caribbean, approximately 34 thousand pregnant women need treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus.”

“Although the region has not seen significant increases in HIV infections, we are concerned that adolescents and young people are unknowingly contracting the virus,” said Garry Conille, UNICEF regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, in a statement.

“Less than 25% of adolescents have access to HIV testing, while access to sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents is scarce,” he added.