According to World Health Organization (WHO) an estimated 3.2 million children were living with HIV at the end of 2013, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Majority of them acquire HIV from their HIV-infected mothers during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding. The number of children (younger than 15 years) more than doubled from 2009 to 2013, from 355 000 to 740 000.
In a recent statistics released by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the number of children (0-14 years) living with HIV/AIDS in Africa has increased to 1,397,000, doubling again in the last 4 years, with Nigeria having the highest number of children (260,000) living with HIV.
It is estimated that 90% of the world’s HIV-infected children live in Africa, and more than half a million die of AIDS each year.
How do we stem the spread of HIV/AIDS? And how do we make sure interventions and Antiretroviral drugs are widely accessible or available to children already living with the virus?
| S/N | Country | Number Of Children (0-14) Living With HIV |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nigeria | 260,000 |
| 2 | South Africa | 240,000 |
| 3 | Mozambique | 110,000 |
| 4 | Kenya | 98,000 |
| 5 | Uganda | 96,000 |
| 6 | Tanzania | 91,000 |
| 7 | Zambia | 85,000 |
| 8 | Malawi | 84,000 |
| 9 | Zimbabwe | 77,000 |
| 10 | D.R. Congo | 42,000 |
| 11 | Cameroon | 39,000 |
| 12 | Côte d’Ivoire | 29,000 |
| 13 | Angola | 25,000 |
| 14 | Ghana | 19,000 |
| 15 | Chad | 18,000 |
| 16 | Indonesia | 17,000 |
| 17 | South Sudan | 14,000 |
| 18 | Lesotho | 13,000 |
| 19 | Mali | 12,000 |
| 20 | Rwanda | 11,000 |
SOURCE: Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
