Impact

Focus on youth

Faced with the HIV/AIDS pandemic South Africa has fallen victim to "a unique phenomenon in biology" as the pattern of adult mortality across the last decade has shifted from the old to the young.[1] The most emotive consequence of this trend is the rapidly growing number of orphans that are left behind. An estimated 370,000 children were orphaned just in 2003 and almost half of these were due to AIDS.[2]

Rate of infection

Detailed studies of HIV/AIDS prevalency amongst children are limited because data is usually taken from ante-natal clinics, which few 11 to 14 year olds would attend.[4] The first national study on HIV/AIDS and South African children in 2004 estimated that at least 5 per cent of children aged 2 to 18 years are HIV-positive and many of these are South Africans, who would not have contracted HIV through childbirth.[5] Referring back to chart 2, the evidence clearly indicates that infection rates are highest amongst 20 to 29 year olds in South Africa. HIV may not be detected by the infected individual for up to ten years and therefore it is fair to assume that a number of these HIV positive people, aged between 20 and 29 years were infected in their teens. This makes it critical for prevention programmes to target young teenagers as will be discussed later in this chapter.[6]

Child Sexuality and infection transmission

It must not be assumed that children and youth are one homogenous group when discussing trends in behaviour. Each individual will have their own unique set of skills, norms and pressures governing their life choices. [7] Nonetheless the primary mode of HIV transmission among young people in sub-Saharan Africa is unprotected penetrative sex. 48 per cent of 15-19 year olds in South Africa state they are sexually experienced and in some of loveLife's most recent research 8 per cent of sexually experienced youth reported having sex at the age 14 or younger.[8] Generally, the reasons for premature sex, unwanted sex, and inconsistent condom use range from social pressure through coercion by peers or older men in authority to outright violence. 22 per cent of 12 to 17 year olds have indicated peer pressure impacted upon their decisions to have sex and a further 10 per cent have admitted being forced into sex.[9]

Teenage pregnancy figures augment this reality of child sexuality in South Africa. In 2000 35 per cent of 19 year olds had either been pregnant or had a child; a clear indication that a significant number of teenagers are practicing unprotected sex by choice or force.[10] This evidence also questions the power of knowledge based campaigns to minimise risky behaviour and sexual practices. The Medical Research Council conducted some research in 2002 with learners from Grade 8 to 11 and while 72 per cent said they had received education regarding HIV and AIDS, only 29 per cent consistently used condoms, 54 per cent had more than one sexual partner and 16 per cent had been pregnant.[11]

“Levels of HIV infection are a barometer of inequality and socio-economic security”[12]

HIV/AIDS is as much a political, social and economic issue as it is a health issue. The pandemic is "intimately tied to poverty, unemployment, migration and gender discrimination" and the vulnerability of girl children and young women is testament to this point.[13] Of the 10 per cent of 15-24 year olds who are HIV positive, 77 per cent are women.[14] 16 per cent of sexually experienced girls in a national loveLife survey admitted they had sex in the past for money, food or other gifts and four in ten said that they have been forced to have sex.[15] In some communities females are less able to protect themselves from risky behaviour because of complex gender expectations and power differences. Promiscuity amongst males is also sometimes encouraged and older men often target young girls because they are believed to be “safe”, or rather uninfected with HIV.[16]

Implications

The impact of this vastly complex pandemic in perpetuating the cycle of poverty.... to be completed.

 

Footnotes

[1] Malegepuru William Makgoba, President of the MRC South Africa, as written in the Preface to Dorrington et al, 2001, p.4

[2] UNAIDS/UNICEF/USAID 2004, Appendix 1, Table 1.

[3] Results of the 2003 Annual Provincial & District Antenatal Survey, compiled by Dr. Najma Shaikh, Department of Health, Western Cape, Oct 2004

[4] Tiendrebéogo et al, p.5 and Kelly et al, p.11.

[5] HSRC, 2004, p.xv&17. This HSRC report forms part of the Nelson Mandela/HSRC Study of HIV/AIDS: South African National HIV Prevalence, Behavioural Risks and Mass Media Household Survey 2002.

[6] See section titled 'Hope in Prevention'.

[7] USAID SD Publication technical paper No.115 p.15

[8] Pettifor et al, p.8. These estimations from loveLife correlate with other youth based research on risky behaviour, including the Medical Research Council's work with learners from Grades 8 to 1l in 2002, p.12

[9] loveLife, South African National Youth Survey, pp.17-19

[10] Abt Associates Inc. & Love Life, 2000 p.25 and 2001 p.31

[11] Reddy et al, 2002, p.12

[12] C Kisoon, M Caesar & T Jithoo, “Whose right? Aids Review 2002” Centre for the Study of AIDS, University of Pretoria,2002 p.22 www.csz.za.org, taken from Rudolph & Godt, p.38

[13] Marais, p.10 and Unicef 2004

[14] Pettifor et al, p.8 and Reddy et al, 2002, p.12.

[15] loveLife, South African National Youth Survey, p.18

[16] Tiendrebéogo et al, p.5
 

 

Innovative educational
             resources for HIV/AIDS
                                        and Life Skills