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About 650,000 people died of AIDS in 2021 and one and a half million people were infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) last year, according to the annual report of the United Nations Program to Combat the HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) released this Tuesday.
The total number of new infections last year was similar to that recorded in 2020, while deaths fell by 5.79%, although the mortality rate was observed to be especially alarming among children.
According to UNAIDS, 15% of all deaths last year were among children under the age of 14, even though they represent less than 15% of people living with HIV in the world.
In total, 38.4 million people have HIV worldwide, according to the latest available statistics, 1.5% more than in 2020, when the disease affected about 37.8 million people, according to the report presented two days before World AIDS Day, which is celebrated on December 1st.
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