HIV/AIDS Prevention Among Adolescents in South Africa

1169 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Prevention of hiv

Policy Brief: HIV/AIDS Prevention Among Adolescents in South Africa

Heterosexual intercourse among adolescents is the primary method of HIV transmission in South Africa, with the majority of new infections occurring in the 21 – 25 year age group. An HIV-prevention campaign promoting abstinence among young people would seem to be an effective barrier to further infections. However, a policy promoting abstinence approaches the problem only superficially, and would not take into account all of the factors driving adolescents to engage in sexual relations, specifically unprotected sex, in the first place. Abstinence is not a viable method of HIV/AIDS prevention within the social, political, and economic context of South Africa.
A more appropriate strategy would be a comprehensive program aimed at the de-stigmatization and prevention of the disease. A campaign promoting the use of condoms in all sexual encounters, backed by education and the expansion of HIV care and prevention services, and accompanied by policies addressing destructive economic conditions and gender inequality would be the most effective strategy. Countries such as Uganda and Senegal have had success when taking a direct approach to HIV prevention, we should follow their example and confront the epidemic on the terms on which it is striking our populace – through the unfettered, unprotected, and unhealthy sexual practices of our youth.
Education is of primary importance in the war against HIV/AIDS. It is the most efficient preventative weapon in our arsenal. Most young adults are at risk because they lack the most basic information on HIV and how to protect themselves from infection. There is confusion about methods of transmission, cultural myths about the disease’s curability, and, perhaps most damaging, skewed perceptions of self-risk. In addition, there are high levels of denial of HIV’s prevalence in communities that have yet to experience AIDS-related deaths. This results in adolescents convincing themselves that they can filter out dangerous partners through appearance or reputation. AIDS is externalized as a disease striking only at the margins of society, and is not seen as sufficient enough of a threat to change one’s risky sexual behavior.
HIV/AIDS education should be a community-wide occurrence. Scare tactics should be used to depict HIV in a realistic manner - as a disease incorporated into every community that can and will infect you if you do not take the correct precautions. Limiting education to the schools keeps HIV/AIDS as a medicinal, sterile topic, and disassociates parents who are unwilling or unable to talk to their children about issues of a sexual nature.

Show More
Related

  • A Closer Walk Documentary Analysis

    551 Words  | 2 Pages

    How can we as professionals promote/help with AIDS awareness in our country and other countries?

    Read More

  • My Life By Earvin Johnson: Character Analysis

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a virus that eventually develops into AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) which is a deadly disease that was ravaging and still is ravaging the world at this time. Johnson, taking this into consideration, decided to educate the youth about this problem, “’ I want to educate the public…We have to make people aware of [HIV]” (Johnson 297). Johnson knew that the heart of this problem lie in the uneducated youth, so he thought the first step in the right direction would be to inform them about the situation. After his individual efforts to promote awareness for this cause, he was invited by the president to join the National Commission on AIDS. This was the next big step in spreading education throughout the country.

    Read More

  • Physician Assistant Personal Statement Essay

    1128 Words  | 3 Pages

    During my sophomore year of high school a couple of my peers and I were asked if we wanted to learn about HIV and AIDS and teach our classmates. My answer was a resounding yes. After attending classes several evenings a week and on the weekends for a few months at the florescent

    Read More

  • Condom Distribution in Public Schools

    1382 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kirby, Douglas. "Abstinence, Sex, And STD/HIV Education Programs For Teens: Their Impact On Sexual Behavior, Pregnancy, And Sexually Transmitted Disease." Annual Review Of Sex Research 18 (2007): 143-177. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 1 Apr. 2013.

    Read More

  • Children in African American Community at risk of the HIV/

    2089 Words  | 5 Pages

    Many African Americans are at high risk of the HIV infection and many of them are unaware or have a lack of access to care, education and prevention services. With African American’s making up fourteen percent of the population, they make up almost half of all people infected with HIV. According to, Exploring the Social and Community Context of African American Adolescents’ HIV Vulnerability (2013), African American communities bear the burden of disproportionately high rates of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) nationwide. Although African Americans represented only 14% of the U.S. population, they comprised 44% of new HIV cases in the United States in 2009 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2011). African American adolescents (ages 13 to 19 years) accounted for 69% of HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 2010, though they represented only 15% of this age group population in the United States (CDC, 2012a). Research suggests that a complex set of factors, including individual, interpersonal, and environmental, put African American youth at higher risk for acquiring HIV (Lightfoot, A. F., Sparks, A., Turner, K., Griffith, T., Jackson, M., & Woods-Jaeger, B, 2013). High risk behavior is a leading factor in the African community in regards to HIV/AID, and African American adolescents are reported to be the highest prevalence engaging in sexual intercourse in comparison to other adolescent ethic groups. Although individual risk behavior is important in HIV transmission, it is not the only factor liable for HIV disparities among African American adolescence.

    Read More

  • Condoms, STDs, & Pregnancy

    806 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the 1980s, efforts increased to alert the public to the dangers of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and unintended pregnancy, yet these problems have increased. Adolescents and young adults have been especially hard hit. Pregnancy and birth rates among teenagers are at their highest levels in two decades.

    Read More

  • Understanding Sex Education: Importance and Impact

    1827 Words  | 4 Pages

    A solid case has been made for exhaustive training about HIV and AIDS in the schools (National Commission on AIDS, 1994). Fontanilla (2003) has listed some needs and significance of sex education including the incidence of unwed pregnancy and the continuous increase of sexually transmitted diseases especially AIDS. According to Edlin (1994), Human Immunodeficiency virus or simply HIV is the virus that causes AIDS or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. However, a few people deny that AIDS is brought about by HIV. It ought to be plainly comprehended that established researchers is in understanding that HIV causes AIDS (Nevid et al., 2002). AIDS is defined by Ticzon (1994) as a virus that destroys one’s immune system, making a person’s body be defenseless against all infections and some cancers. He also explained that it will take 10 years for a person to develop AIDS from the time he/she was infected with HIV. Fontanilla (2003) has described that a person cannot tell if one has AIDS by just simply looking at his looks rather this has common symptoms such as severe weight loss and fatigue. There is also a huge possibility of certain cancers, specifically Kaposi’s sarcoma. From this information, AIDS is a severe disease that needs to be addressed immediately and be understood by many so that it wouldn’t be

    Read More

  • Be Informed: Have the Sex Talk with Your Kids

    785 Words  | 2 Pages

    Students should be informed about more than just “don’t have sex” because eventually it is going to happen and they need to be educated on the proper way to handle the situations. Because students are mostly taught abstinence it has created the situation to where researchers find” Abstinence-only education, instead of reducing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, has made teenagers and young adults more vulnerable to ST...

    Read More

  • Sexually Transmitted Diseases ( Stds )

    2438 Words  | 5 Pages

    There is no one fool proof method of preventing sexual activity in teenager or adolescents –the current strategies are now geared towards reducing the number of STD cases and encourage safe sex among teenagers. However, it is also important to remember that health resources have a limit and one simply cannot go on providing condoms ad lib, if they are not going to be used. One has to accept the fact there there will always be a certain population that will remain noncompliant with behavior strategies or use of condoms. The name of the game is not to have zero sexual activity or no STDs among teenagers, but just safe sex with the least number of infections.

    Read More

  • Sex and Relationship Education (SRE)

    2621 Words  | 6 Pages

    ...ax S(1997) Impact of HIV and Sexual Health Education on the Sexual Behaviour of Young People: a Review Update

    Read More

  • Sex Education For Public Schools

    1534 Words  | 4 Pages

    The government likes to pretend that if high school students get taught the “abstinence-only” method they would never think of taking part in sexual activities. Statistically this is incorrect. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “56 percent of high school students are virgins”(Martin). For the 56 percent abstinence only is doing them well, but there are still 44 percent of high school students engaging in sex without knowing the precau...

    Read More

  • UNICEF

    644 Words  | 2 Pages

    To decrease HIV transmission and to minimise the impact of the epidemic, on children, young people and families, through the growing effectiveness of national action to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the East of Asia and the Pacific regions. They aim to provide practical support and aid at community level, encouraging the full engament of people affected by HIV/AIDS.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Teenage Pregnancy

    1521 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many times as we go to the movie theater, listen to a song on the radio, or read a book, we are inundated with sexual themes and innuendos. It’s on billboards, commercials, and even in our daily conversations as we innocently joke about little Jane having her first boyfriend in kindergarten. Everywhere we look, we are barraged by sexual themes when what we need most are educational programs to deter young people from situations that they are ill prepared to deal with. The lack of educational programs can be affected by many factors. Maybe it’s a lack of funding for these type programs in our public school systems, or maybe they’re avoided due to religious or personal beliefs surrounding the subject. Many parents subscribe to the theories that they have taught abstinence, and that should be good enough, or that they want to educate the child concerning these matters as a family, and that it shouldn’t be taught in school. The truth is that sexually toned conversations can be hard to have at home, where there is often a judgmental undertone or a perceived punishment if the young person expresses an interest in birth control. According to the Centers for Disease Control, “46.8% of high school students admitted that they had ever had sex”, and “40.9% admitted that they did not use a condom the last time they had sex”. (Center for Disease Control) Many teenagers believe the common myth that

    Read More

  • The Impact of HIV/AIDS

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    Without proper knowledge and equipment, it is very difficult to prevent the spread of AIDS. Ever since the illness was discovered thirty years ago, it has taken the lives of thirty million people and affected the lives of many, many more. The AIDS pandemic has been and still is most severe in third-world countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It has impacted the economies of entire nations by crippling and killing individuals in the most productive years of their lives (“HIV/AIDS”). AIDS greatly influences the government sector, agricultural sector, private corporations, and individual households.

    Read More

  • Preventing HIV/ AIDS

    1036 Words  | 3 Pages

    The emergence of HIV/AIDS is viewed globally as one of the most serious health and developmental challenges our society faces today. Being a lentivirus, HIV slowly replicates over time, attacking and wearing down the human immune system subsequently leading to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) at which point the affected individual is exposed to life threatening illnesses and eventual death. Despite the fact that a few instances of this disease have been accounted for in all parts of the world, a high rate of the aforementioned living with HIV are situated in either low or medium wage procuring nations. The Sub-Saharan region Africa is recognized as the geographic region most afflicted by the pandemic. In previous years, people living with HIV or at risk of getting infected did not have enough access to prevention, care and treatment neither were they properly sensitized about the disease. These days, awareness and accessibility to all the mentioned (preventive methods, care etc.) has risen dramatically due to several global responses to the epidemic. An estimated half of newly infected people are among those under age 25(The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic). It hits hard as it has no visible symptoms and can go a long time without being diagnosed until one is tested or before it is too late to manage.

    Read More

More about HIV/AIDS Prevention Among Adolescents in South Africa

Open Document