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UN to tackle AIDS among teens

Published:Friday | November 29, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Migrants from Ghana, Nigeria and Chad sit in a migrant detention centre located in the Zoo in Tripoli, Libya, on Wednesday. Libya's chaos in the two years following the overthrow of dictator Moammar Gadhafi has turned the country into a prime springboard for tens of thousands of migrants, mainly from Africa, trying to reach Europe in rickety, crowded boats. - AP photos

UNITED NATIONS (CMC):

Ahead of this year's World AIDS Day, the United Nations health agency has launched new recommendations to address the specific needs of adolescents in the Caribbean and other countries who are living with HIV and are at risk of infection.

With over two million adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 years living with HIV, with millions more at risk of infection. The organisation says the failure to support effective and acceptable HIV services for adolescents has resulted in a 50 per cent increase in reported AIDS-related deaths in this group, compared with the 30 per cent decline seen in the general population from 2005 to 2012.

About one-seventh of all new HIV infections occur during adolescence, said WHO, warning that, unless the barriers are removed, the dream of an AIDS-free generation will never be realised.

"Adolescents face difficult and often confusing emotional and social pressures as they grow from children into adults," said Dr Gottfried Hirnschall, director of WHO's HIV/AIDS Department.

"Adolescents need health services and support tailored to their needs. They are less likely than adults to be tested for HIV and often need more support than adults to help them maintain care and to stick to treatment," he added.