660 children acquired HIV every day in 2025, while 200 died from AIDS-related causes: UNICEF

Despite major progress in tackling human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, worldwide, inequalities in access to prevention, testing and treatment continue to put children and adolescents at risk of preventable infections and deaths, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

UNICEF’s latest estimates show that about 660 children acquired HIV every day in 2025, while about 200 died from Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)-related causes, largely because of inadequate access to prevention, care and treatment services.

About 93,000 children aged under 15 acquired HIV in 2025, bringing the number in this age group living with the virus to 1.26 million. Nearly 87 per cent live in sub-Saharan Africa, which remains the region most heavily affected by the epidemic, the estimates said. 

The figures, however, also show significant progress. New HIV infections among children aged under 15 have fallen by about 69 per cent since 2010, largely because of expanded efforts to prevent transmission from mother to child. AIDS-related deaths among children in the same age group have declined by about 84 per cent since their peak in 2001.

But progress has been slower among adolescents. An estimated 74,000 children and adolescents aged under 20 died from AIDS-related causes in 2025. About 70 per cent of these deaths were among children aged under 10. While deaths among younger children have fallen substantially, annual AIDS-related deaths among adolescents aged 15-19 have declined by only about 46 per cent since their peak in 2007.

The impact of the epidemic extends beyond children living with HIV. An estimated 13.5 million children aged under 18 had lost one or both parents to AIDS-related causes by 2025. Millions more have experienced consequences including a greater risk of poverty, homelessness, dropping out of school, discrimination and lost opportunities.

UNICEF says efforts to tackle HIV must focus on preventing mother-to-child transmission and accelerating efforts to eliminate HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B transmission. It has also called for gaps in HIV treatment among children and adolescents to be closed through earlier diagnosis and better paediatric care, while protecting progress amid changes in global health financing.

The agency said timely and reliable data were also needed to identify gaps in services and direct limited resources towards communities with the greatest needs.

UNICEF works with countries to strengthen health and data systems and identify gaps at national and local levels.

The agency said putting children and adolescents at the centre of the global HIV response would be essential to ending AIDS as a public health threat and achieving the goal of an AIDS-free generation.