Health

HIV infection rates in South Africa are levelling off

by Amy Judd | June 9, 2009 at 02:27 pm

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HIV infection rates in South Africa seem to be levelling off at an infection rate of 10.9% for residents over two according to a new study released today.

The same study said the rate of infection in teenagers and children could be decreasing as well, perhaps due to the use of condoms. But the situation in the country is still considered dire as South Africa still has the world's largest HIV-positive population, at over 5.5 million people.

Women between the ages of 20 to 34 are the most affected, with 33% of their population infected with HIV.

Olive Shisana, an author of the study of 20,826 people released on Tuesday, said there were "promising findings of a changing pattern of HIV infection among children and youth".

"The good news is that the change in HIV prevalence in children is most likely attributable to the successful implementation of several HIV-prevention interventions," she said.

About 2.5 % of children between the ages of two and 14 are infected with HIV now, which is a drop from 5.6 % in 2002.
Condom use is up among young people, which could help account for the 10.9% figure, but that has moved only slightly down from 11.4% in 2005.

"There is clearly light at the end of the tunnel," said Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi. "There is real light."

The same survey however, also listed challenges still to be overcome, including a rise in sexual partners for each person, and an increase in HIV prevalence among some 15 to 19 year olds.

However, Fraser McNeill, at the London School of Economics, had this to say about HIV prevention programmes:

"I found ways in which Aids intervention programmes are implemented are counterproductive," he said.

"People on the ground often believe that condoms actually cause Aids, and the women who are involved in the process of Aids education are often framed as vectors of the virus."