Children hit by HIV funding gaps
New York, US (PANA) - 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 reverse decades of progress, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday, ahead of World AIDS Day.
New 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 deaths.
Even maintaining current service levels would 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.
“The world was making progress in the HIV response, but persistent gaps remained even before abrupt global funding cuts disrupted services,” said Anurita Bains, UNICEF Associate Director of HIV and AIDS.
“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.”
According to the latest 2024 data, before funding cuts disrupted services globally, 120,000 children aged 0-14 acquired HIV and 75,000 died from AIDS-related causes, the equivalent of about 200 child deaths every day.
Among adolescents aged 15-19, 150,000 acquired HIV, around two-thirds of them girls, with girls accounting for 85 per cent of new infections in this age group in sub-Saharan Africa. 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 continues to carry the heaviest burden, accounting for 88 per cent of children living with HIV and more than 80 per cent of new infections and AIDS-related child deaths.
-0- PANA MA 29Nov2025
