Deputy President of South Africa and SANAC Chairperson, Cyril Ramaphosa, launched an ambitious national campaign to prevent HIV among young women and adolescent girls on 24 June in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. The campaign will respond to the unacceptably high rate of new HIV infections among young women and adolescent girls in the country.
“Despite our remarkable success in saving lives through the provision of free treatment for people living with HIV and AIDS, it is estimated that nearly 2,000 girls and young women between the ages of 15 and 24 get infected by HIV in this country each week,” said Ramaphosa.
The campaign seeks to reduce the interlinked problems of HIV, school dropout, teenage pregnancy and gender-based violence and to maximize health, education and economic opportunities for young women and adolescent girls.
The three-year campaign will focus initially on the subdistricts with the highest incidence of HIV and will increase access to sexual and reproductive health information and services through adolescent- and youth-friendly clinics, the Integrated School Health Programme, community and peer outreach and support and parenting programmes for parents of teenagers and for teenage and young parents.
Special emphasis will be given to keeping young women in secondary and tertiary education. Young women have had a strong voice in developing the campaign, which will remain youth-led. The campaign has been funded through the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief DREAMS initiative, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the German development agency KfW and the national government.
The campaign will also reach out to men and encourage men – both young and older – to use condoms, stick to one sexual partner and not to sleep with younger girls and women. Ramaphosa also condemned so-called blessers and sugar-daddies, leading the young people in chants of “Phanzi ngo blesser, phanzi! Phanzi ngo sugar daddy, phanzi!”
The campaign launch was a festive affair, which started off with a 2.6 km walk, led by youth and supported by principals such as KZN Health MEC Dr Sibusiso Dlhomo. As people began streaming into the Royal Agricultural Showgrounds in Pietermaritzburg, they were directed to activity corners, where multi-sectoral teams consisting of government departments, civil society and private sector provided information and exhibited various interventions aimed at addressing issues such as teenage pregnancy, gender-based violence and economic empowerment.
A new government-issued condom was also officially unveiled at the event. The Max condom replaces the Choice range. Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said it was created after extensive feedback from the youth showed that the old brand was not popular.