South African youth ignoring HIV/AIDS threat

Irresponsible sexual behaviour, despite the threat of HIV/AIDS, is threatening the future of South Africa's youth, a recent study found. Alarmingly, the study suggested that only a small proportion of the youth interviewed felt they were ar risk of contracting HIV, despite 31 percent admitting to having engaged in unprotected sex.

The project, "Transitions to Adulthood in the Context of AIDS in Africa", interviewed over 3000 teenagers from rural and urban settings in KwaZulu-Natal, the province with the highest level of HIV infection in the country. According to the report, earlier studies found that HIV/AIDS was not a significant factor in decision-making.

The government has responded to the HIV/AIDS epidemic among the youth by initiating a national life-skills programme in schools. The programme is aimed at increasing knowledge and promoting responsible attitudes concerning sexual health and HIV/AIDS.

According to the study, 60 percent of the respondents had received some life-skills instruction at school and 70 percent had received information on HIV/AIDS transmission and precention. Nearly half of the youth said they had also been exposed to life-skills training outside school. Soul City - an educational media campaign - was the most frequent provider of this training.

Only 11 percent of those interviewed said they had been tested for HIV/AIDS, with females being twice as likely to be tested. Most of the girls had been tested during antenatal care. Nearly a quarter of all females in the study had been pregnant and 75 percent had left school as a result. The high percentage of girls leaving school because of pregnancy had adversely affected their subsequent opportunities, the report said.

The "Transitions to Adulthood" team gathered researchers from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, Tulane University in New Orleans and the US-based Population Council.

[This item is delivered to the English Service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations.]