UN: Children lag sharply in antiretroviral effort

A United Nations report says global efforts to provide antiretroviral therapy to children with HIV lags sharply compared to adults.

Only 24 percent of children with HIV were receiving antiretroviral therapy at the end of 2013, compared to 38 percent of adults. And the number of children on the therapy increased a mere 3 percent during the first half of 2014, compared to 6 percent for adults.

The figures were in a United Nations AIDS agency report released Monday detailing its efforts to end the AIDS epidemic as a global threat by 2030.

On the positive side, there has been dramatic progress in stopping new HIV infections among children. The number of children newly infected in 2013 was 58 percent lower than in 2002, when the figure was highest.