UNITED NATIONS, New York (CMC) — The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) has called for more investment in and access to treatment for children with HIV/AIDS.

Ahead of World AIDS Day today, Unicef says an estimated 1.1 million HIV infections among children under 15 have been averted, but added that disparity in access to treatment is hampering progress towards reaching a global goal of reducing new infections in children by 90 per cent between 2009 and 2015.

New cases of HIV infections declined by more than 50 per cent between 2005 and 2013, as a result of expanding the access of millions of pregnant women living with HIV to services for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission, Unicef said.

It said these services include lifelong HIV treatment that markedly reduces the transmission of the virus to babies and keeps their mothers alive and well.

“If we can avert 1.1 million new HIV infections in children, we can protect every child from HIV — but only if we reach every child,” Unicef Executive Director Anthony Lake said.

“We must close the gap and invest more in reaching every mother, every newborn, every child, and every adolescent with HIV-prevention and treatment programmes that can save and improve their lives,” he added.

In 2013 only 67 per cent of pregnant women living with HIV in all low- and middle-income countries received the most effective antiretroviral medicines for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission, Lake said.

He said among people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries, adults are much more likely than children to get antiretroviral therapy.

Unicef’s Statistical Update on Children, Adolescents and AIDS provides the most recent analysis of global data on children and adolescents from birth to 19 years of age.

World AIDS Day, celebrated annually on December 1, was launched in 1988 and was the first-ever global health day.

The Caribbean is second to Sub-Saharan Africa in the prevalence of HIV/AIDS.