HIV prevention for adolescents in South Africa

Abstract: Background It is estimated that 6.1 million people have HIV in South Africa, which makes it the country with the highest number of people living with HIV in the world. Adolescents are a severely affected and exposed group, since they tend to have several risk factors and a risky sexual behaviour. However, sexual education is implemented in school and there are special prevention programmes for adolescents in the country. Aim The aim of this study was to examine the HIV prevention work for adolescents in South Africa. Method The study was accomplished with a qualitative method and a semistructured interview design. The respondents were reached through purposive sampling and snowballing. In total six interviews were accomplished with people active within school, healthcare and different organisations. Results South Africa is a diverse country with many different cultures, beliefs and languages. Due to all the differences in the country, the widespread poverty and the previous political situation the challenges are many when it comes to prevention work. The key findings of the thesis are the importance of education and gender empowerment for adolescents to prevent the further spread. Conclusion HIV prevention for adolescents is important to reduce the HIV epidemic in South Africa. However, further education and gender empowerment is needed. Stigmatization and poor adherence to ART is also issues that need to be addressed in order to make progress in the prevention work. A mutual goal has appeared in the field of HIV prevention; to have zero new infections.