As I began researching information for this week’s blog, I again found very troubling statistics about HIV in South African teens. One study showed that, although the total rate of HIV infection in South Africa appears to be stabilizing, the numbers about the teens are not optimistic. Unfortunately, the numbers among teens were not falling (1). Of those in the study ages 10-14 years old, 10% were HIV-positive (1). It is even believed that 50% of all new HIV infections in South Africa are of adolescents ages 15-24 (2). This is very concerning, because it means that an entire new population will be HIV positive. Additionally, when I think of HIV prevention programs, I often consider targeting youth. My hope is to create a new population that is HIV free, battling the pandemic from that angle. Either the current methods are not targeting youth, the current methods are not effectively teaching youth how to remain safe, or there is some larger barrier that is not being addressed.
If the problem is that there is some inherent barrier that is not being addressed, this should be studied further. One extremely troubling article was entitled “South Africa recalls ‘faulty’ ANC celebration condoms” (3). Now, when I was in South Africa, I was immediately surprised. In every public bathroom, there were condom machines—free condom machines. When I went into the township in which I did my teen pregnancy research, I was told that there were free condoms and birth control injections at the local clinic. But, when I spoke to people, both those in the clinics and in more affluent areas (such as the University of Cape Town), I inquired about this. I asked why there were still a so many people having unprotected sex if there were so many free resources. Some people said that they were afraid of going to the clinics because of a stigma. Others said that it was often difficult to get the man to use protection. Both of these are upsetting and difficult to remedy because they are such complex issues. But, one other reason struck me: some people told me that people do not like to use the free condoms provided by the government because they are poor in quality and often break. This was unsettling to me, because it seems like such an easy problem to fix.
In the aforementioned article, the condom recall occurred after the Treatment Action Campaign received numerous complaints of condoms breaking during intercourse (3). 1.35 million condoms had been giving out at the ANC (government) 100 year anniversary celebration (5). There had not been such a large recall since 2007 (3) (20 million were recalled). These statistics are extremely scary. When ideology is the main problems, “women are unable to abstain from sex, guarantee that their partners will be faithful or insist on the use of condoms,” then there is a deeply rooted issue (4). That issue will take time and creativity to come up with a solution. But when the issue is faulty condoms—poor manufacturing—that should be immediately solved.
On the other hand, there is an issue that I did not think about previously. In the past, when I have considered the fact that young teens date older men, I have normally considered this relationship to be forced. However, one of the articles begins with the story of Nomasonto, a schoolgirl. She was excited about the idea of an older boyfriend because “an older boyfriend, he can buy you things and it is nice to show your friends that you have thing” (4). I did not realize that girls were actually seeking out older men, because of the status they provide. The article goes on to state that adolescent girls are “six times more likely to become infected with HIV from a man over the age of 24, than a boy [their] own age.” (4). One future health intervention may include encouraging people to date others their own age.
- Thom, Anso, and Kerry Cullinan. “AllAfrica.com: South Africa: HIV Rate Stable, but Teen Rates Concerning.” AllAfrica.com: Home. 30 Nov. 2011. Web. <http://allafrica.com/stories/201111300018.html>.
- “HIV Researchers Track South African Teens – SFU News – Simon Fraser University.” Simon Fraser University–SFU Online News. 31 Jan. 2012. Web. <http://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/stories/2012/hiv-researchers-track-south-african-teens.html>.
- “BBC News – South Africa Recalls ‘faulty’ ANC Celebration Condoms.” BBC – Homepage. 30 Jan. 2012. Web. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16797496>.
- Cullinan, Kerry. “Combating HIV Infections among African Women.” Sierra Express Media. 8 Feb. 2012. Web. <http://www.sierraexpressmedia.com/archives/34915>.
- Kanani, Bazi. “Condom Recall in South Africa Concerns AIDS Activists – ABC News.” ABCNews.com. 31 Jan. 2012. Web. <http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/01/condom-recall-in-south-africa-concerns-aids-activists/>.
2 Comments
Interesting post! It seems that with such high rates of HIV in South Africa, the government would be putting extreme effort into preventing transmission — the fact that they are providing faulty condoms is shocking. Like you said, while there are many barriers to prevention that are complicated and culturally sensitive, this is not one of them. It seems that this was not a one time problem, since the people you spoke to seemed to consider it common knowledge that the free condoms at clinics were of poor quality. I wonder what the government’s response to the recall was. Did you come across anything about what the ANC had to say about this issue?
Condom is use is great in theory. However, even if condoms are trusted (which they often are not), bringing about condom use among individuals who are married is something that has been shown to be very difficult. Within a marriage, asking one’s spouse to use a condom is often seen as grounds to suspect infidelity. Furthermore, touching on the subject of domestic abuse of women and the “Ending Violence Against Women” reading from this week, many cultures do not consider forced sex within a marriage to constitute rape. Thus, women who are married that want to use condoms often do not have the power to refuse their husbands sex if he is unwilling to use a condom. I’d love to hear more about successful condom-pushing strategies among married couples, if you can find any.