Skip to main content

AIDS Victims in Africa

Despite marked progress in curbing the HIV epidemic, a high percentage of schoolgirls are still HIV positive in South Africa, latest figures revealed.

Schoolgirls tested HIV positive constitute at least 28 percent of female pupils in schools across the country, according to figures released by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi at a National Council of Provinces "taking Parliament to the people" event in Carolina, Mpumalanga on Wednesday.

Compared with schoolgirls, only 4 percent of boys at schools are HIV positive.

"It is clear that it is not young boys who are sleeping with these girls. It is old men. We must take a stand against sugar daddies because they are destroying our children," Motsoaledi said in remarks published by the Sowetan newspaper on Thursday.

Motsoaledi said 94,000 schoolgirls fell pregnant across the country in 2011.

"Some (pregnant pupils) are known to the department of education, but there is a number which the education department does not know about. (About) 77,000 girls had abortions at public facilities. We can no longer live like that. We want to put an end to it," Motsoaledi said.

He said some pregnant girls, aged between 10 and 14 years of age, tested positive for HIV.

Motsoaledi said that of the 52 districts in the country, Gert Sibande district in Mpumalanga topped the list with a high number of HIV-positive people.

"There is also a high number of TB infections ... there is a lot of death and a lot of illness here. It is for this reason that we chose the district to be one of the 11 in the country where the National Health Insurance program will be piloted."

He said that as from April 1 the Heath Department will start giving patients starting anti-retroviral treatment the single-dose combination pill.

The news came against a backdrop of highly-acclaimed progress in stemming the HIV epidemic.

Thanks to the South African government's efforts to fight the HIV epidemic, the HIV prevalence has seen a 1.3-percent decline in the age group between 15 to 24 years -- from 21.8 percent in 2010 to 20.5 percent in 2011, according to the 2011 National Antenatal Sentinel HIV Prevalence Survey.

Another decrease was among the 15-to-19 year-old from 14 percent in 2010 to 12.7 percent in 2011, showed the survey.

The HIV prevalence, however, remained the highest among women in age group 30 to 34 years, increasing from 41.5 percent in 2009 to 42.2 percent in 2011.

Among the 35-to-39 year-olds, the prevalence rate has increased from 35.4 percent in 2009 to 39.4 percent in 2011.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Buried Treasures in Bohol Philippines

Written by Joe Espiritu       Four persons died in a treasure hunting accident last week. They died for nothing. Many had lost their shirts in the venture, the propensity for Filipinos to get rich quick attribute to the treasure hunting mania. The sad part is that only the ignorant venture on the search, those in the know, being sure that nothing will come out of the effort would not think of investing money, time and effort – this time lives – in a fruitless enterprise.        There had been stories of people getting rich uncovering treasure troves in unlikely places. Most stories are false. Ancient graves of archeological and anthropological value had been desecrated by treasure hunters. They had found nothing. Those people may have struck it rich but not from some hidden riches. Contrary to what other people say, there are no buried treasures in Bohol . If there had been, they were unearthed years ago.         If one traces the history of this province from the first time the huma
Post a Comment
Read more

Davao Culinary Night

DAVAO CITY, Feb. 14, 2020 (PIA) -- The Davao Tourism Association (DATA) recently held the first-ever One Davao Culinary Night which featured indigenous inspired dishes concocted by its member chefs . Founded in 1974, the DATA is a group composed of stakeholders coming from tourism-related establishments in Davao Region. The One Davao Culinary Night at the Marco Polo Davao Ballroom on January 31 was held to coincide with the group’s belated 75th anniversary celebration. “What we really wanted to do is to define what is Davao cuisine. When we formed the DATA chef’s club composed of 10 chefs coming from our DATA restaurant members we were able to collaborate and learn from the immersion that we did with the two indigenous tribes we invited- the Kagan and the Tagabawa,” Gatchi Gatchalian, DATA president said. Gatchalian said they wanted the people to discover what Davao cuisine is, as people associate Davao cuisine to ihaw-ihaw (grilled specialties) and kinilaw (cerviche). Gatchalian
Post a Comment
Read more

Sourcing of Agricultural Products

DAVAO CITY, Feb. 19, 2020 -- The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) signed partnership agreements on Monday, February 17, 2020, with various government agencies and a private institution for the sourcing of agricultural products from agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARB) in this province. These institutions are the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Region XI, Department of Health Region XI, Davao Regional Medical Center, Southern Philippines Medical Center, and Medical Mission Group Hospital which all agreed to assist in the government’s fight against hunger and poverty in the countryside under the Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty program (EPAHP). Cabinet Secretary and EPAHP Committee Chairman Karlo B. Nograles said these partnerships work in two ways. It provides institutions with a steady supply of food items, such as rice, vegetables, root crops and other farm produce, while the farmers gain regular markets for their farm yields. “EPAHP is our government’s
Post a Comment
Read more