2 thousand 500 young people get AIDS every day

• April 18, 2024

Approximately 2,500 young people contract the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) every day, which causes AIDS worldwide, according to a report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), presented in Johannesburg.

The document prepared by UNICEF with other United Nations agencies and the World Bank, indicates that 41% of infections occur between people aged 15 to 24 years, which places this group as the most at risk, with a figure of between 4.3 and 5.9 million cases in the world.

The information published in the newspaper ElPaís.com , states that the prevalence of the disease, whose existence was confirmed in June 1981, in young people has been reduced in recent years and that the risk among girls and adolescents has become "disproportionate".

It is estimated that about 60% of HIV-positive young people are women; This figure rises to 72% in sub-Saharan Africa, the most affected region in the world, according to the Unicef ​​report:

"For many women, HIV infection is the result of mistreatment, exclusion and violations that occur with the consent of their families and authorities," said UNICEF Executive Director Antony Lake.

South Africa leads the list of new infections worldwide, with about 190 thousand new HIV-positive people in 2009, according to the data of the United Nations Joint Program against AIDS (UNAIDS) and that the Most of them do not know that they suffer from HIV .