HIV infections rising amongst young women
New HIV infections continue to increase among adolescent girls and young women than other age groups, the National AIDS Council (NAC) has said.
Sinatra Nyathi, NAC Bulawayo Provincial AIDS Manager revealed that while new HIV infections decreased in other demographics, the figure was proportionately high in adolescent girls and young women. She was speaking at Tuesday's commemorations of the International Day of the Girl Child.
“Imagine, in all the age groups HIV is going down but adolescent girls and young women are getting new infections.”
She also noted that the issue of multi-sectoral needed a multi-sectoral approach.
“We realize young girls attend vuzu parties, where unplanned pregnancies, HIV, STIs, and other diseases emerge. As NAC, we are on the path to achieving epidemic control, but we must also prevent further HIV spread. However, new infections continue to be identified, with adolescent girls and young women disproportionately affected.”
Girls, according to Nyathi, must make informed decisions in this digital age.
“There are school dropouts due to a number of reasons-unemployment, poverty, harmful gender norms and our girls remain very susceptible to HIV through cultural and social practices. As NAC we coordinate the DREAMS program where we say young adolescent girls and young women should be determined and resilient. You can’t sell your life over that red box of chips yet you can be a Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) girl who is educated and empowered and buy as many of those red boxes as you want.”
Despite work done by NAC, Nyathi admitted documenting new HIV infections was discouraging.
“Right now, I am very disappointed over new infections coming from adolescent girls and young women yet this is the digital generation where we can get information from WhatsApp, bulk SMS, and all the digital platforms that are there but here we are as young girls in this digital generation we are busy looking for pornography.”
Transactional sex or blesser-blessee relationships have also been cited as another main contributor. Girls enter into these intergenerational relationships with little or no bargaining power and the older men demand unprotected sex in exchange for goodies.
