South Africa’s HIV epidemic has levelled off and could be turning the corner according to a new report by the Human Sciences Research Council.

Among children and teenagers, the percentage of those infected with HIV fell from 5.6 percent in 2002 to 2.5 percent in 2008. There has also been a decline in new infections among teenagers aged 15 to 19.

Promising findings
Nearly 21,000 people took part in the study. According to Dr Olive Shisana, the latest survey “provides an opportunity to understand the HIV epidemic over time, and there are promising findings of a changing pattern of HIV infection among children and youth.”

Dr Shisana attributes the decline in infections to the successful implementation of several HIV-prevention programmes. In the Western Cape, mother-to-child transmission has declined by six percent in the last three years.

Safe sex messages also appear to be getting through. The proportion of the population who reported using a condom at their last sexual encounter was particularly high among young people aged 15 to 24. In 2002, 57 percent of young men said they used condoms. By 2008 that number had risen to 87 percent. Among young females the figure rose from 46 percent to 73 percent.

No room for complacency
But there can be no room for complacency, according to the co-investigator on the study, Dr Warren Parker. Although many younger people have had exposure to HIV communication and prevention programmes, only four out of ten people aged 50 years or older report the same. This is particularly worrying given that the number of young women having sex with older men, who are more likely to have been exposed to HIV, is on the increase. Dr Parker attributes this to young women seeing older men as being better off and able to provide a more comfortable lifestyle:

“An older partner is typically more moneyed and is able to provide, but at the same time is much more likely to be HIV positive and we’ve seen that increasing. That’s worrying and it’s really going to buck the trend. Although young people are using condoms more regularly, that trend is kind of inverted a little bit by the fact that young girls are having older partners.”

Turning the corner
Five and a half million people in South Africa are HIV positive, but this latest survey suggests that great strides have been made in bringing the virus under control. More people than ever before have access to anti-retroviral drugs that can enable them to live normal, productive lives.

President Jacob Zuma is taking a different approach to former President Thabo Mbeki who questioned the link between HIV and AIDS. His health minister, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, was much derided around the world for advocating a diet of beetroot, lemon juice and garlic to prevent the onset of AIDS. Dr Parker welcomes the changes being implemented in HIV healthcare and the appointment of Dr Aaron Motsoaledi as health minister.

“The present era is certainly refreshing. The new minister is highly committed to addressing HIV. He was at the presentation of the report and very inspired by the findings themselves and particularly into integrating these findings into future strategy and policy. So, we do seem to have turned the corner there.”
 

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