An AIDS-Free Generation? What Might the Future Hold?

As the years pass, new medical advances are helping to prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to their newborns as well as help those with the virus live longer, healthier and happier lives.

However, a high number of adolescents becoming infected with the virus still remains at a shockingly high number. For instance, the number of individuals between the ages of 10 and 19 to become infected with HIV increased by 50 percent between the years of 2005 and 2012, according to a UNICEF news release. 

In fact, statistics show that the numbers rose from 71,000 to 110,000 over the course of the years. In fact, as of 2012, there are 2.1 million adolescents living with HIV. 

"If high-impact interventions are scaled up using an integrated approach, we can halve the number of new infections among adolescents by 2020," UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake, said. "It's a matter of reaching the most vulnerable adolescents with effective [programs] - urgently."

"High-impact interventions" could include "condoms, antiretroviral treatment, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, voluntary medical male circumcision, communications for [behavior] change, and targeted approaches for at-risk and marginalized populations." Better education, health systems, and welfare could also play a role in improving the dismal numbers.

"This report reminds us that an AIDS-free generation is one in which all children are born free of HIV and remain so--from birth and throughout their lives--and it means access to treatment for all children living with HIV," Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS, said. "It also reminds us that women's health and well-being should be at the [center] of the AIDS response. I have no doubt that we will achieve these goals."

Fortunately, a new life-long antiretroval treatment known as Option B+ offters better treatments for women living with HIV that can prevent transmission to offsprings. 

This means that for many who are pregnant and living with the virus, it is not a death-setence for the woman nor her child. In fact, the baby is likely to come out completely unharmed when using this antiviral treatment. 

As 260,000 children were infected with HIV in 2012 compared to 540,000 in 2005, with such medical advances, we can only assume that the number will continue to get less as more seek proper treatment. 

"The world now has the experience and the tools to achieve an AIDS-free generation. Children should be the first to benefit from our successes in defeating HIV, and the last to suffer when we fall short," Lake said.

What do you think?