By Katlego Sekhu
Joining Point of View with Phemelo Motene to discuss the high risk of HIV infection in girls and young women aged 15-24 is Dr Veni Naidu, HIV Community Services Lead at BroadReach Health Development.
Dr Naidu says there are a few factors that put young women at risk and one of those factors is “peer pressure.”
She explains: “Young girls want to identify with their peers and they want to feel accepted and this may include having unprotected sex or having sex with multiple partners. Especially a partner who is HIV positive or a partner whose viral load is detectable.
“So when a young girl is engaging in early sex, they don’t know anything about family planning methods or contraceptives or are perhaps reluctant to go to the clinic.”
Shhe adds that they are even afraid of the health care workers judging them so they “use condoms inconsistently or not at all.”
This has also led to a rise in teenage pregnancy over the last couple of years.
“What research is leading to is that the girls have a higher risk of contracting HIV and also their incidence of HIV is much higher than boys. So it’s important for us to protect them,” says Dr. Naidu.
The other thing is a patriarchal culture that does not give women a voice to request for a condom. Also, there is this age-sex discrepancy between younger girls and young men for economic dependence, said the Dr.
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