Half of adults in SA dying of Aids - report August 20 2001 at 09:40PM http://www.iol.co.za/html/frame_news.php?click_id=79 By Patrick Leeman Almost half of all adult deaths in South Africa can now be attributed to Aids, according to information gathered from death certificates. This is according to the latest LoveLife report entitled Impending Catastrophe Revisited. The publication says that, while these reports still need to be verified, without HIV/Aids, the South African population would have been expected to grow from 43,7 million to 51,3 million by 2010. As a result of the pandemic, however, and excluding migration, the population is expected to reach only 47 million in 2010 in a best-case scenario. The educational sector has a responsibility In the worst-case scenario, the population will peak at 46,7 million in 2008 and show negative growth after that. The LoveLife report says that, for the past five years, the prevalence of HIV/Aids among teenagers has been above 10 percent. However, for the past three years it has been above 15 percent. It is clear more attention needs to be given to preventing HIV infections in this age group. While there is a high level of awareness about HIV/Aids among South African teenagers, many are nevertheless exposed to high-risk situations. The report says a recent survey indicated 35 percent of teenage girls had been pregnant or had a child by the age of 19. Nevirapine has been shown to dramatically reduce transmission at birth Of particular concern was the alleged sexual abuse and rape of schoolgirls by their teachers. The report says the educational sector has a responsibility to facilitate the empowerment of girls, decrease their exposure to high-risk situations, and ensure educational institutions are free from sexual harassment. The latest issue of the South African Medical Journal says research at the University of Cape Town has shown antiretroviral therapy significantly decreases the incidence of tuberculosis. This, it points out, occurs even in a country such as ours where TB rates may be among the highest in the world. These new drugs, the report says, could be a powerful strategy for the control of HIV-associated TB. The HIV/Aids lobby group Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is to announce details on Tuesday of a plan to take the government to court over drugs that can prevent HIV transmission from mother to child. TAC last year threatened a formal challenge over the government's refusal to make the antiretroviral nevirapine available for this purpose in state facilities. It withdrew the threat when the department of health announced Nevirapine pilot sites were to be set up in each province. However, TAC spokesperson Anneke Meerkotter said it had become clear the sites were inadequate. "A pilot site is just that, a research site. So there's no commitment to anything beyond that," she said. TAC's national executive said the organisation's attorneys wrote to Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang in July asking why nevirapine was not widely available. Nevirapine has been shown to dramatically reduce transmission at birth, and supporters of its use argue the expense of the one-off treatment is offset by the savings on treatment of HIV-infected children. UNAids said in October last year its safety and effectiveness warranted use "beyond pilot projects and research settings". Front Page South Africa Africa World Science & Tech A Step Beyond Newspapers IOL Newsletter Picture Gallery Letters Feedback Yesterday's Top 10 Stories Search IOL Related Stories Aids in SA could hit six million in 10 years LoveLife sponsor pledges R100m a year Government announces R375m Aids pact Aids summit produces fine words, few dollars Teenage sex survey reveals shocking facts SA has highest number of Aids cases SA has highest number of Aids cases December 01 2000 at 09:40AM By Ishani Bechoo By Ishani Bechoo and Zanele Zungu South Africa has the highest number of people with HIV/Aids in the world, but World Aids Day heralds a new era in the history of the pandemic. Increased Aids awareness, government's moves to provide Aids drugs, and a victory for Aids activists in making cheap drugs accessible to all, are all reasons to be hopeful. However, the devastating impact of Aids still plays itself out in communities where people are dying daily and latest estimates show that one in four South African women between the ages of 20 and 29 are infected with the virus. Constant renewal of the struggle against the epidemic was needed More than four million are HIV-positive and KwaZulu-Natal has the highest infection rate in the country. Kofi Annan, United Nations secretary-general, said constant renewal of the struggle against the epidemic was needed. He said he wanted to highlight the role that men could play if they became more caring, took fewer risks, and faced HIV/Aids head-on. This year's theme, Men Make a Difference, aims to raise awareness of the relationship between men's behaviour and HIV, and to involve them in the fight against the epidemic. In South Africa, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), scored a major victory on Thursday when the Medicines Control Council of South Africa allowed it to distribute the Aids drug, Biozole, which is a much cheaper generic version of Fluconazole, at a Cape Town clinic, subject to certain conditions. Deputy chairman of TAC, Mark Heywood, said: "It is a big victory, but it does not resolve the broad question of accessibility. "It is a blow against pharmaceutical companies because it is concrete evidence that affordable generic drugs would be available if it were not for the high prices and the lack of will by the government to provide them." Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has pledged the government's commitment to get pharmaceutical companies and other role-players to secure deals to ensure access of Aids drugs for the country's poor. She was to sign an agreement with Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company, to supply Fluconazole to State hospitals and clinics. The provision of anti-retrovirals in the private sector has encouraged people to come forward for treatment. Dr George Chidi, a specialist physician at Crompton hospital in Pinetown, said 90% of patients treated with anti-retrovirals such as AZT and Nevirapine responded well. The government is collaborating with the United States on issues of HIV/Aids, including research vaccines, primary prevention, treatment and support for people with Aids, monitoring and development of human capacity and service infrastructure. South Africa's prevention effort, loveLife, will be profiled by the United Nations at its New York headquarters today. The initiative focuses on prevention of the disease in 12- to 17-year-olds. Another contribution in the struggle against the pandemic comes from Durban's McCord hospital, where the HIV/AIDS Christian care centre - called Sinikithemba - gives hope to more than 300 people living with the virus in KwaZulu-Natal. Teenage sex survey reveals shocking facts March 09 2001 at 07:40PM By Peta Krost Three out of 10 South African children are having sex by the age of 13. Of those, 9 percent have had sexual intercourse before they turned 12. These shocking figures are part of a disturbingly illuminating report based on the largest ever national survey, in which 2 000 teenagers between the ages 12-17 took part. According to the report - published by loveLife, an Aids awareness organisation focusing on children between the ages of 12 and 15 - almost 80 percent of all sexually experienced teens had their first sexual experience by the time they were 15. The youngsters say peer pressure and coercion play a significant role in their sexual behaviour. For many of them, sex is seen as a commodity that can be exchanged for money or other forms of payment. 'Parents need to take control. It is what they do, not what they say, that counts' Dr Michael Sinclair, senior vice-president of the Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, which commissioned the survey, says it is essential for people to know these facts about adolescents because parents, especially, often deny them. "This is fundamental information that can guide us in understanding and working with the youth. We know so little about what drives adolescent behaviour," he says. He says loveLife's main rationale is to restore responsibility to the family, where there needs to be open communication about sex, backed up by sex education. It is clear from the survey, he believes, that children want to get that information at home and not from their teachers, which is often embarrassing. loveLife spokesperson Judi Nokwedi says parents need to take control, and that it is what they do, not what they say, that counts. "Sex education for your children is not an event that occurs with your daughter's first menstruation, or when you decide your son is becoming a man. It's a process - one of open communication." The survey showed that 20 percent of youngsters having sex admitted to having given a girlfriend pocket money, or buying her drinks or food for sex, while 16 percent of the girls say they have had sex in exchange for these things. Around 22 percent of sexually experienced youngsters said they have sex with their partners because they are afraid of what their friends will say if they don't. In fact, 35% of them agreed with the statement that "Having many sexual partners means I am cool or hip". One in three sexually active boys and 16 percent of the girls believe they can demand sex even if their partner doesn't want to have it. At least four percent of all teenagers between 12 and 17 reported having been pregnant or making someone else pregnant. Most children learn about sex from their friends, while 9% find out from television. Although most of the sexually active adolescents said they are concerned about HIV/Aids, half indicated they don't always use contraception. Most sexually experienced youngsters (68 percent boys and 54 percent girls) said sex without condoms is more enjoyable, and only 55 percent always use condoms. The survey revealed that slightly fewer girls (28 percent) than boys (33 percent) report being sexually active, and those in rural areas are more likely to be sexually active at younger ages than those in urban areas. Also astounding is the number of sexually experienced youth: 22 percent had more than two partners before they were 17. About one in five reported having more than one partner at the time, according to the report. HIV spreading in teenage girls, older men December 01 2000 at 07:40PM Girls as young as 13 are contracting HIV through consensual sex. This shocking revelation comes from research done by the Gauteng Aids Project, which shows that by age 15, at least half of the South African population is sexually active. The reluctance, or inability, of parents and teachers to talk about sex and the grave dangers associated with this means that infections are happening at very early ages, the research has found. "The rate of infection among young women starts picking up at age 15 and is quite high at 18," says Dr Liz Floyd, Gauteng's Aids director. "There are 13-year olds being infected, but not on a large scale. The infection rate among men only starts picking up at 18 and then goes on into the older age groups." 'Our children are sexually active at a younger age' Floyd says that at the current infection rate, in just 10 years one in four young people in Gauteng will be HIV positive. The rates of infection are highest in women from ages 15 to 25. These statistics parallel those of a study commissioned recently by the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council, which says the population in this area is expected to grow by only 200 000, from its current 2,9-million to 3,1-million, by 2010. It is projected that in that time, a horrifying 500 000 people in the province will die of Aids-related diseases. The study also estimates that the life expectancy of an African woman is likely to shrink dramatically, from an already low 63 years to 44, in the same time period. "Our society underestimated the seriousness of the situation in the 1990s," Floyd adds. "The Aids epidemic is already showing itself, as young adults in their 30s are dying. People are finally admitting the reality of what's happening. But we also need to start admitting that our children are sexually active at a younger age. "Parents and teachers need to understand and start helping them to cope and prepare for the sexual pressures of their teenage years, otherwise we're going to lose them." 'It's shocking what a mystery the whole sexual process is to them' Shereen Usdin, advocacy manager for Soul City, says the biggest myth about teen sexuality is that if you give teenagers information about sex, they are going to go out and have sex. "Research has shown that exactly the opposite is true," she says. "If you empower young people, they are much more equipped to make responsible choices." Usdin feels that the current statistics are the tragic consequence of a generation who've been kept in the dark about their sexuality. "Your heart goes out when you speak to young pregnant girls. It's shocking what a mystery the whole reproductive and sexual process is to them. If they had just had the correct information, they might have been able to make different choices. "Despite information being largely withheld from them, it's the young people who have the highest number of unplanned pregnancies, as well as the highest rate of transmission of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV infections." According to Floyd, questions need to be asked about "who the partners of these 13-year-old girls are, and how consenting intercourse actually is". Vulnerability and violence are the two biggest concerns facing young women, according to Usdin. "Research has shown that a lot of girls come from difficult circumstances where a relationship with an older man is a ticket to a better life. Sex is often a survival thing. "The threat of violence is also a huge problem. It means they don't have the power - even with boyfriends - to negotiate abstinence, safe sex or delaying sex." And not only girls need information that can help them. "Young boys are under a lot of peer pressure to prove themselves as men," says Usdin. Aids in SA could hit six million in 10 years August 16 2001 at 11:10PM At least six million South Africans could be infected with HIV or Aids within the next 10 years, a recent study has found. The LoveLife research concluded that about 4-million people were infected by the end of last year. Between 5,3 million and 6,1 million would suffer from HIV/ Aids by 2005, and 6 million to 7,5 million by 2010. "About 15 percent of all South African adults aged 20 to 64 are infected, and these levels could rise to 20 to 23 percent by 2005, and 22 to 27 percent by 2010," said the report, titled Impending Catastrophe Revised. According to estimates from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids and the World Health Organisation, 34,7 million adults and 1,4 million children were living with HIV worldwide by December last year. 'Women are heavily affected by the epidemic' In South Africa, almost 25 percent of women aged between 15 and 19 would become infected between 1995 and 2010, while only 5 percent of men in that age group would fall victim to the virus, the LoveLife report said. More than 15 percent of women and about 14,5 percent of men between the ages of 20 and 24 would be infected. "Women are heavily affected by the epidemic. They are at greater risk of infection due to biological, social and economic factors, and are also more vulnerable to socio-economic impacts," the report said. By 2005 there were expected to be about one million Aids orphans under the age of 15 in SA, rising to 2,5 million in 2010. The majority of these orphans would be children over the age of 4. Aids deaths were projected to rise from 120 000 a year in 2000 to between 354 000 and 383 000 in 2005. It could increase to between 545 000 and 635 000 deaths in 2010. Half of all adult deaths can be attributed to Aids Other sources suggested that Aids might result in 800 000 deaths in 2010. Nationwide the percentage of the adult population dying from Aids would reach between 2 percent and 2,6 percent by 2010. "Reports indicate that information garnered from death certificates suggests that already half of all adult deaths can be attributed to Aids. While these reports need to be verified, it is clear that the impact of this epidemic is already being felt." A 15 percent increase in condom use would result in a decrease of 150 000 HIV/Aids cases among people aged between 20 and 25 by 2015, the report added. - Sapa
