"Progress has been made in the battle against HIV and AIDS - but we must do more, especially when it comes to Nigerian children and adolescents," said UNICEF Nigeria Country Representative Peter Hawkins.
"Testing and treating children and adolescents is a matter of life and death - and we must choose life."
According to the latest global data, regional disparities in access to treatment among children living with HIV is very high - with West and Central Africa faring worst.
Access to treatment by children living with HIV in Nigeria is only 35 per cent.
Mothers' access to antiretroviral therapy to prevent the transmission of the virus to their babies has increased globally, however, reaching 82 per cent, up from 44 per cent less than 10 years ago. This figure in Nigeria is 44 per cent, up from 22 per cent in 2009.
It is good news that more and more pregnant women are receiving antiretroviral treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, which has helped avert about 2 million new HIV infections and prevented the deaths of over 1 million children under five years old around the world," said Peter Hawkins.
Additional data from the report include:
In 2018, around 160,000 children aged 0-9 were newly infected with HIV, bringing the total number of children in this age group living with HIV to 1.1 million.
140,000 adolescent girls were newly infected with HIV in 2018, compared to 50,000 adolescent boys.
To end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat for future generations, UNICEF is urging governments and partners to:
Invest in and implement effective and innovative interventions to urgently close the persistent testing and treatment gap for children and adolescents living with HIV. Vanguard