The figure is maddening: according to a recent report presented by Unicef on the occasion of the 22nd international conference on the disease which was held this week in Amsterdam (in the Netherlands), every 3 minutes in the world, a teenage girl is infected by the AIDS virus .
It is mainly young girls aged 15 to 19 who are affected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) since they represent a third of total infections on the planet.
“Women and girls do not have access to information”
How to explain this situation ? In a statement, the Executive Director of Unicef, Henrietta Fore, said that “in most countries, women and girls do not have access to necessary information and services or do not even have the possibility to refuse unprotected sex ”. He added: “HIV is spreading rapidly among the most vulnerable and marginalized people, which places adolescent girls at the heart of the crisis”.
The Unicef report also denounces “early sexual intercourse, including with older men, forced relationships, the balance of power that does not allow to say no, poverty, and the lack of access to confidential counseling and testing services ”.
According to Unicef, during the year 2017, 130,000 deaths among those under 20 were caused by the AIDS virus; 430,000 new HIV infections have affected this age group.
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