Calls for more youth-targetted HIV interventions

It's the main message the foundation says it's taking to the 35th World Aids Day commemoration event at KwaMashu's L-Section hall today.

This year's theme is "Let the Communities Lead."

The foundation's national preventions manager, Tusani Kunene, says the latest figures from the HIV Prevalence Survey are a clear directive that more interventions are needed among young people.

According to the Human Sciences Research Council study results released earlier this week, there is a low condom use among young people who indicated that they had multiple partners. 

HIV prevalence in women aged 25 to 29 years was three times higher compared to men in the same age group.

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"We still have a long way to go as we see that amongst our young people, we still have a huge role to play in making sure that we reduce the number within those age groups, especially our young women and girls whereby you find that the infection rates are almost twice as much as those of their peers. So, the fight still has to be carried on."   

Meanwhile, Joni Watson, a vice-president at the BroadReach Group, is encouraging people living with HIV to stay on course with their treatment.

The healthcare organisation runs HIV treatment and care programmes in South Africa.

"We urge them to stock up on their HIV and other chronic medication at their local clinic; these are available in multiple scripts."

"Taking your medication daily is especially important for especially those living with HIV to ensure that viral loads remain undetected so they cannot transmit the virus." 

"There are other preventative medication such as PrEP and PEP that can be taken to curb the spread of the virus,” Watson added.