Spike in Aids-Related Adolescent Deaths

Teenagers discussing sex at a youth group during the International Family Planning Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Johannesburg — The life of a teenager is difficult enough without the added burden of living with HIV, keeping it hidden from friends and sticking to antiretroviral treatment.

But new data has revealed that while AIDS-related deaths globally have fallen in the general population over the last seven years, deaths among adolescents rose by 50 percent in the same period and UN agencies are raising the alarm.

The World Health Organization (WHO) blames the high number of deaths on the "poor prioritization" of teenagers in national HIV plans; inadequate HIV services, and lack of support for adolescents to remain in care and stick to antiretroviral therapy (ART).

With a generation of children who were born HIV-positive now reaching young adulthood, countries in sub-Saharan Africa can no longer slot young people into paediatric programmes or even adult health facilities.

WHO has released new guidelines that, for the first time, address the specific needs of adolescents living with HIV as well as those at risk of infection. More than 2 million adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 years are living with HIV.

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

According to WHO, only 10 percent of young men and 15 percent of young women between 15 and 24 years in sub-Saharan Africa know their HIV status, while access to HIV testing and counselling in other regions is consistently reported as being very low.

In addition, adolescents born with HIV are often being diagnosed late, and start treatment only when they are already very ill.

A major barrier is that in some countries adolescents need their parents' consent to get tested and WHO recommends that governments review their laws to make it easier for adolescents to obtain HIV testing without parental consent.

In South Africa, for example, different threshold ages of consent apply to HIV-related services such as treatment, voluntary medical male circumcision, contraception, and HIV testing. Consent for an HIV test may be given by a child who is 12 years or older, and also by a child under the age of 12 if they are "of sufficient maturity to understand the benefits, risks and social implications of such a test". Read More

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