BANGKOK: The estimated number of adolescents dying of AIDS in the Asia Pacific region has more than doubled since 2005, experts said on Monday, warning of a “hidden epidemic.”

UNICEF urged Asian countries to improve teenagers’ access to testing, saying many young people do not know their HIV status because of parental consent requirements for tests.

The Asia Pacific region has made enormous strides against HIV/AIDS in the adult population, with a 31 percent drop in new HIV infections between 2000 and 2014, and 28 percent decline in AIDS-related deaths between 2005 and 2014.

However, one in seven new infections in the region last year was among 15 to 19-year-olds, and the estimated number of AIDS-related deaths for adolescents aged 10 to 19 has shot up 110 percent to 6,600 in 2014, from 3,100 in 2005, a UN report said on Monday.

At-risk adolescent groups include gay and transgender youth, injecting drug users, and people who buy and sell sex.

“This is the first, definitive report on adolescents — teenagers between 10 and 19,” said Wing-Sie Cheng, UNICEF regional adviser on HIV and AIDS.

“This report has been a culmination of more than two years of efforts to try to get all available data to help us understand the picture of the epidemic facing them. We’re talking about a hidden epidemic.”

The report said an estimated 50,000 adolescents aged 15 to 19 were infected with HIV last year.