Durban - Boys are having sex earlier, condom use has plummeted and people living together are more at risk of HIV than married or single people.
These are some of the findings of the 2012 South African National HIV Prevalence, Incidence and Behaviour Survey, released by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).
Based on a representative national sample of almost 29 000 people, the report found that 12.2 percent of the population was HIV positive – almost 2 percent more since the last survey in 2008.
HIV infection was highest in women aged 30 to 34 (36 percent) and men aged 35 to 39 (31.6 percent).
Professor Olive Shisana, the head of the council, said the increase in HIV prevalence was both because of new infections and because the roll-out of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment meant people with HIV were living longer.
Blood samples revealed almost one-third of people with HIV had been exposed to ARV treatment.
Those most at risk of HIV were African women aged 20 to 34 living in informal settlements in KwaZulu-Natal.
“We have made considerable ground in terms of treatment, but we have some way to go with prevention,” said Science and Technology Minister Derek Hanekom.
About 469 000 people were infected with HIV in 2012, but there was a “steady decline” of new infections in young people aged 15 to 24, said Shisana.
In addition, the HIV rate in babies infected by their mothers had been slashed.
A decade ago, around 70 000 babies a year were being infected but this was down to about 8 600, according to Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi.
The rate of infections of young women in this age group was over four times higher than young men (2.5 percent new infections in 2012).
This is despite the fact that young men were far more likely to have started having sex at an early age and to have multiple partners.
In 2008, around one in 10 boys had sex before the age of 15, whereas by 2012 this had jumped to 16.7 percent.
Boys were three times more likely to have had sex before 15 than girls, with boys from the Eastern Cape most likely to lose their virginity early.
Shisana said relatively high condom use among young men was likely to be curbing their infection rates.
However, condom use has plunged since 2008. Less than 68 percent of young men aged 15 to 24 used condoms when they last had sex, in comparison to 85 percent four years previously.
A dismal 36 percent of men aged 25 to 49 used condoms (down from 44 percent in 2008).
Acknowledging the government’s Choice condoms “may no longer be cool”, Motsoaledi said the health department was about to launch condoms that were “flavoured, coloured and smelt very nice” at universities and FET colleges.
The rate of men reporting multiple partners has more than doubled in a decade, with close to one-fifth (23 percent) of men reporting multiple partners.
People living with sexual partners were more than five times more likely to get HIV than married people, with 3 percent of those cohabiting becoming HIV positive in 2012 as opposed to 2.3 percent of single people and 0.5 percent of married people.
“Married people were less likely to have multiple partners,” said Shisana, adding that there were significant racial differences in marriage trends.
Only a quarter of African people of marriageable age were married while more than 70 percent of whites were married.
Motsoaledi said the report identified “worrying trends – the increase in multiple sexual partners, decreased condom use and decreased knowledge about HIV transmission”.
Dr Fareed Abdullah, the head of the SA National AIDS Council, said the report confirmed the South African National Aids Council’s decision to target HIV in young women, particularly those living in informal settlements. – Health eNews
Breakdown by province:
KwaZulu-Natal 16.9%
Mpumalanga 14.1%
Free State 14.0%
North West 13.3%
Gauteng 12.4%
Limpopo 9.2%
Northern Cape 7.4%
Western Cape 5.0%