Poor young women account for new HIV infections in South Africa, according to recent reports that reveal how poverty is increasing girls’ vulnerability to HIV. Find out the challenges facing South African young women amidst the growing HIV threat and some recommendations in curbing this epidemic.

The number of new HIV infections in South Africa is on the rise. And two reports assert that this HIV epidemic greatly affects poor young women.

Medical Findings

A recently published research article in the South African Medical Journal in March 2007 reveals that poverty plays a significant role in increasing young women's vulnerability to HIV. According to the report, people living in crowded slums had the highest incidence of HIV, followed by those living in isolated and under-resourced rural regions. Also, researchers found out that outreach strategies, including condom use and abstinence programmes, are failing to curb high-risk behaviour among teenagers and young adults.

Among the 15–24 age group, researchers found that women comprised 90% of all new HIV infections, while in the 20–29 age group, women were six times more likely to be HIV-positive than men of the same age.

Pregnant women, widowed women, and young children who had not been infected with mother-to-child transmissions and may have been victims of sexual abuse are among the particularly vulnerable groups. The study also indicated that the HIV epidemic in South Africa—at roughly 1,500 new infections a day—is expanding faster than has been estimated and planned for by the government.

HIV and the women of tomorrow

Another publication, “Girls and HIV: A new Epidemic in the Women of Tomorrow?” examines the impact of HIV and AIDS on young girls, particularly taking into account factors such as poverty, gender norms, and cultural practices, which are making girls particularly vulnerable to HIV. Among the recommendations from the authors are as follows:
- governments to take action in protecting young girls who are vulnerable to sexual violence;
- governments to ensure that girls have equal access to education;
- develop social clubs and groups that can empower girls and young women; and
- support indigenous action aimed at changing cultural values and behavioural practices.

“Girls and HIV: A new Epidemic in the Women of Tomorrow?” is the Global AIDSLink magasine issue for January-February 2007 published by Global Health Council, the world’s largest membership alliance dedicated to improving health throughout the world. This publication can be downloaded at <www.globalaidsalliance.org/docs/AIDSLink_January_2007.pdf>.

Invisible and out of reach

In an article from “Girls and HIV: A new Epidemic in the Women of Tomorrow?”entitled “The Girls Left Behind Outside the Box and Out of Reach” by Judith Bruce, senior associate of international organisation Population Council, she said, “HIV now serves as a sad biological tracer of girls’ disadvantage. The conditions under which they live make them out of reach of current debates over abstinence and sexual health” as these girls are mostly “outside the paradigms of conventional HIV prevention” focused on Western middle-class assumptions .

“We must make ‘visible’ the girls living in the reservoirs of social and economic disadvantage; strongly encourage the reorientation of social, health, development, and youth initiatives to build up their protective and productive assets; and, assure their access to the best prevention, care and treatment
services. If we fail in this, a substantial proportion of vulnerable girls will be ‘left behind’ and as a result will carry a rising and disproportionate share of HIV infection in the decades to come,” Bruce said.

Sources:
“'Alarming' HIV rise in young South African women” from SciDev.Net, posted on March 15, 2007, <http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews&itemid=3484&language=1>.
“Poor, young and female: the new face of the HIV epidemic” from Global AIDS Alliance, <http://www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/DocDisplay.cfm?Doc=DOC23741&Resource=f1hiv>.