KINGSTON, JAMAICA, October 11, 2025 – As part of the International Day of the Girl Child, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest non-profit organization in the response to HIV and AIDS, joins millions of voices around the world to protect girls from HIV, denounce violence and child abuse, and demand policies that guarantee their health and future. Despite the progress, the challenges remain enormous: in Latin America and the Caribbean, about 40% of girls have suffered some form of physical or sexual violence before the age of 18 (ECLAC/UNICEF).
Globally, adolescent girls and young women continue to bear the brunt of HIV inequality. Every week, 4,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 acquire the virus. In total, 1.9 million adolescents and young women were living with HIV in 2023. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the situation is also worrying: an estimated 237,000 adolescents and young people aged 10 to 24 are living with HIV, representing about 12% of the global total in this age group.
Child marriage and early unions continue to be a worrying reality in Latin America and the Caribbean. According to UNICEF, up to 5% of girls in the region marry or enter into a union – forced or not – before the age of 15, which truncates their development, exposes them to adult responsibilities such as parenting from an early age and limits their access to education, reducing their possibilities of economic and social participation on equal terms.
Faced with this reality, AHF stresses that girls informed about their rights have more tools to avoid abuse and make safe decisions about their lives, including protection from forced marriages, teenage pregnancy, and sexual exploitation.
In Jamaica, the data calls for urgent action. The 2023 Jamaica Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) found that nearly 1 in 4 girls experienced sexual violence, and almost 1 in 3 faced physical violence during childhood. Upon considering that a preliminary 2024 UNAIDS report shows that roughly 13,000 girls and women aged 15 and older are living with HIV in Jamaica, these numbers highlight the urgent need to protect girls from violence and ensure they have the support to thrive despite the challenges they face.
Sannia Sutherland, Country Programme Manager of AHF Jamaica, emphasizes that “girls are not just tomorrow’s leaders – they are changemakers today. When we provide safe spaces for them to grow, learn, and lead, we affirm their dignity and strengthen the foundations of a respectful, inclusive society. At AHF Jamaica, we remain committed to empowering every girl to raise her voice and participate in shaping her community.”
This International Day of the Girl Child 2025, AHF reinforces awareness with the symbolic gesture of the “pinky promise”, a universal greeting by intertwining the little fingers that represents friendship, solidarity and mutual protection among girls. A promise that must be respected by adults, institutions and men, because together, girls are stronger.
In addition, AHF promotes the Girls Act program, created in 2016 in Africa and today present in almost 40 countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe, which provides girls and adolescents with the necessary tools to protect their health, continue their studies and become agents of change in their communities. You can learn more about the program in girlsact.org
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest organization in the response to HIV and AIDS. It currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 2.5 million people in 47 countries around the world: in the United States, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Europe. For more information about AHF, visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare For Latin America and the Caribbean Twitter: @AHFLatamyCaribe Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AHFLatamyCaribe
Media contact in Jamaica:
Jerome Edwards / +1 876-807-6891 / [email protected]
Media Contact for Latin America and the Caribbean
Sergio Lagarde / +52 55 19315156 / [email protected]
