Leanne Jansen
DURBAN: South African schoolchildren are having sex at a younger age and many of them are ignorant about HIV.
With increasing numbers of children making their sexual debut before the age of 15, and condom use declining, the Basic Education Department is determined to improve sexuality education in classrooms and provide access to HIV prevention for pupils.
Yesterday, data presented by the department at the SA Aids Conference here revealed that 7.6 percent of KwaZulu-Natal children, and nearly 11 percent of all South African children had started having sex before 15. In 2002, those figures stood at 4.9 percent for KZN and 5 percent for the country.
In 2008, 47 percent of KZN children aged 15 and older reported that they had used a condom the last time they had sex, but this was true for only 39.6 percent in 2012 (36 percent nationally).
Research has revealed that Aids-related deaths are declining in all age groups, except among 10 to 19-year-olds. But young women are at risk – the HIV incidence rate among women aged 15 to 24 is more than four times higher than the incidence rate found in men in this same group.
Adolescent girls have eight times the infection rate of boys of the same age.
Granville Whittle, the deputy director-general of social mobilisation and support services at the department, said 37 percent of children in grades 8 to 11 made their sexual debut early. Life orientation and sexuality education were key in protecting pupils.