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Transitions to Adulthood: Gender, Economic and Social Poverty, Youth, and HIV/AIDS in South Africa
Republished from GENDER-AIDS eForum 2003: [email protected]
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South Africa has been disproportionately affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Although the country has fewer than 1% of the world?s 15 to 24-year-olds, it accounts for roughly 14% of all global HIV infections among this age group. Young women are at particular risk: for every two infected 15 to 24-year-old males in South Africa, there are five infected females of the same age. Because of biological and social factors, young women are at higher risk for HIV infection than young men.
Evidence on the relationship between low social and economic status and risky sexual behavior among young women is emerging from a panel survey in KwaZulu-Natal entitled "Transitions to Adulthood in the Context of AIDS in South Africa". Project findings indicate that residing in a poor household or not being enrolled in school puts young women at much higher risk for being sexually active at a younger age, not using a condom during sex, experiencing forced sex, exchanging sex for goods or favours, and becoming pregnant before the age of 20.
Poor young women also report greater social isolation than do their male and more advantaged female counterparts. They report having fewer friends at and outside of school, they are less likely to participate in school activities outside of class and in social organisations, and they are more apt to describe sexual harassment as a problem at school.
With this evidence, the Population Council, in collaboration with the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, is planning a two-year programme with a local NGO partner in KZN that will add social mobilisation and economic components to an existing youth HIV/AIDS programme. The goal is to reduce among disadvantaged young women in HIV-affected areas the likelihood of school-leaving and engaging in risky sexual behaviours.
Population Council researchers: Judith A. Diers and Kelly K. Hallman
Non-Council collaborators: Nick Swan and Catherine van der Ruit, School of Development Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
Source: Population and Social Science Research, Population Council 30th December 2003. |
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