Youths at highest risk of HIV

Those aged 15-24 by far the largest group living with the virus

While the country has recorded a decrease in the number of new HIV infections nationally, 770 704 people are estimated to be living with the virus in the Eastern Cape.

According to research conducted by the Eastern Cape Aids Council (Ecac), 33 627 new infections were recorded in the province between April 2017 and March this year.

This was shared by Ecac senior researcher Phelisa Dana at the HIV, TB and STI policy implementation in schools conference under way on the East London beachfront. Dana could not say whether this was an increase or decrease.

“The researcher who worked directly with the findings and would be better suited to explain the findings is currently is out of the country,” she said.

Dana said the research revealed that the virus was most prevalent in young people, with those in the 15-24 age group recording the highest number people living with HIV.

More than 20 000 people in this group live in the O R Tambo district, followed by Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, which recorded 12 240 young people living with HIV.

Alfred Nzo district and Buffalo City Metro recorded the third highest HIV prevalence, with 11 912 and 11 906 young people living with HIV respectively.

Sarah Baartman district had the lowest number at 4 619.

“We focused on HIV levels among young people because this HIV, TB and STI policy is for school pupils, who form a large part of the youth. [The policy] talks to issues of sexual and reproductive health among pupils, and as statistics reveal, there is a need for sexual education for pupils,” she said.

The conference has been educating parents, teachers and a handful of pupils from different schools about strategies to implement in schools to curb the numbers of STDs and teenage pregnancies.

Suggestions made by conference delegates will be recorded and incorporated into a policy, which will then be introduced into schools in the province.

Provincial education chief director Sharon Maasdorp said sexual education was a societal matter. “Social ills such as drugs and teenage pregnancy are not taking place in schools, but they affect pupils in schools.

“These problems create barriers to education for thousands of vulnerable children and youth. These vulnerabilities in turn impact on pupils’ access to, attendance at, participation in and performance at school.”

Maasdorp said challenges such as HIV infections and pregnancies among pupils had a direct impact on the performance that Eastern Cape schools record each year.

“The province has the third highest HIV prevalence in the country, while education [matric] results placed us at number nine each year.

“It’s time to turn this around. But this can only happen through partnership and collaboration between educators, school communities and the pupils themselves,” she said.