AIDS orphans driven to early and risky sex

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Aids orphans driven to early and risky sex

By Amelia NaidooBorn in an area with the highest HIV prevalence in the country, the orphans of Amajuba District Municipality, incorporating Newcastle, are twice as likely to have had sexual intercourse as are children who have parents. Poor education, inadequate nutrition, a lack of support and exposure to risky sexual encounters at a young age are all taking their toll on these vulnerable children and the municipality's other residents. Preliminary findings of the Amajuba Child Health and Wellbeing Research Project released this month also found that paternal orphans were more than twice as likely to have had sex as were children whose parents were both alive. Researchers made these findings after conducting a five-year study with 663 children (214 orphans and 449 non-orphans) in the district. The project was conducted by the Health, Economics and HIV/Aids Research Division of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in collaboration with Boston University in the United States. It aims to document the consequences of parental deaths from Aids for the welfare of their orphans and of other children in households that care for orphans. The findings will be presented to decision-makers in local government structures and to child welfare agencies. The goal was to use the findings to formulate a child welfare plan for the district by 2010. Another disturbing finding was the average age of the children's first sexual intercourse - around 13 years. Researcher Mandisa Cakwe said that more than 10% of children under 17 had had sex, 20% of 15-to-17-year-olds were sexually active, as were 41% of 17-year-olds. Fewer than half of the children reported condom use in a district with 46% HIV prevalence. The researchers found that 269 of the 663 children had repeated a grade at school. Cakwe said more than 10% of the children were between two and three years behind at school for reasons that included poor performance and illness. A startling discovery was that non-orphans were just as likely to fail at school, with 43% having to repeat a grade. Cakwe said almost 20% of the children were taking care of sick adults regardless of whether they were orphans or not. However, orphans seemed to have had a greater burden because they tended to have cared for their ill parents longer, she said. Another discovery researchers made was that children as young as 16, and even some in grade 6, were living with their partners. Answering questions on Amajuba's high HIV prevalence, considering the district's remoteness, Cakwe said Newcastle was halfway between Durban and Johannesburg. Many residents sought work in these cities where they engaged in risky sex. amelia.naidooinl (DOT) co.za

This article was originally published on page 6 of The Mercury on August 08, 2007

Published on the Web by IOL on 2007-08-08 08:09:00

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