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170 young people contract HIV daily in Central and West Africa

86% of the world’s HIV-positive children and adolescents live in sub-Saharan Africa, the Los Angeles Times reported. In Central and West Africa, 80% of the children who have HIV do not get antiretroviral therapy, which makes it the region with the lowest rate of access to the treatment in the world. According to the latest research from the United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF) and UNAIDS, the number of people aged 15-19 years “dying of AIDS” in the region jumped by 35% between 2010 and 2016. The rate of new infections is declining, but not as fast. In West and Central Africa, 170 people aged 15-19 years contract HIV every day. Experts reportedly say that the infection rate is driven due to a dearth of diagnoses of infants, and “unequal access to testing and treatment,” the LA Times said.