KZN young men lead HIV defaults - Health MEC
The
KwaZulu-Natal Health Department has singled out men and young adults as those
defaulting on their anti-retroviral treatment the most.
On Thursday, MEC Nomagugu Simelane told the provincial legislature's Health Committee that among these are teenagers who were born with the virus and those who have just found out about their status.
"We need to have a program or a campaign that we are going to implement together with the men sector from the civil society to try and bring those back," said Simelane.
"It's not just men; it's also young adults and adolescents."
More than 200,000 people living with HIV in the province are not taking their medication.
READ: Over 200k HIV+ KZN residents ‘defaulting’
Earlier this month, the department said it plans to trace over 117,000 defaulters by the end of the year.
"The teenage years are the rebellious years, and we found that most of them, once they discover what treatment they were taking and what the treatment is for, they would become very angry and very resentful, and therefore drop out," she said.
"Majority of them are now at tertiary doing first year or second year of university. Others are in Grade 11 and Grade 12."
According to the South African National AIDS Council, more than 1,000 young men are diagnosed with HIV every week in KwaZulu-Natal.
Find us on social media
Follow the ECR Newswatch WhatsApp channel here
