Aids now the top killer of African teenagers

Aids is now the leading cause of death among African teenagers and the second most common killer for adolescents across the globe, the UN’s agency for children has said.

At a conference in South Africa, Unicef said despite gains made among adults and babies with HIV, the number of 10 to 19-year-olds dying from Aids-related diseases has tripled since 2000.

Craig McClure, chief of Unicef’s HIV and Aids division, said children born with the virus were dying in their teens because there was not enough treatment aimed at adolescents.

Mani Djelassem, a 17-year-old activist who was born HIV-positive, said it was vital to educate teenagers about the disease and the medication has been vital to saving her own life.

“Among HIV-affected populations, adolescents are the only group for which the mortality figures are not decreasing,” the report says.

“Most adolescents who die of Aids-related illnesses acquired HIV when they were infants, 10 to 15 years ago, when fewer pregnant women and mothers living with HIV received antiretroviral medicines to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child.”

Among teenagers aged 15-19, 26 new infections occur every hour, and about half of the 2m with HIV are in just six countries: South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, India, Mozambique, and Tanzania