Gauteng AIDS council chairperson, Panyaza Lesufi says young girls aged between 15 and 24 are the most vulnerable and contribute 20% to new HIV infections.
Lesufi gave a keynote address at the World Aids Day commemoration in Mamelodi Tshwane on World Aids Day on Thursday.
“We also need to reduce the vulnerability of adolescent girls, young women and young men aged between 15 and 24 who are currently contributing 20% of the new HIV infections.
“That (percentage) is very and that is why I will alway raise my voice about this issue because if older people still continue to engage with children between 15 and 24-years we must rise as society and fight this thing,” said Lesufi.
Lesufi called for community members to assist the government to fight societal ills especially when young girls date ‘sugar daddies’ or what older men who pay to have sex with younger women are commonly referred to as “blessers”.
Health experts have said the “blesser” phenomenon could be the reason why in South Africa, the levels of high HIV infection rates are found among young girls
“We can’t have young girls that believe that to date older people is better than going to school. We can’t have young girls who believe drinking a famous alcohol brand is better than concentrating on their studies. Jointly as a society we must defeat these tendencies,” said Lesufi.
He said more still needs to be done to improve access to medication and emphasised the need for early treatment or access to antiretrovirals.
“At a country level the implementation of test and treat national guidelines has yielded results in terms of the ARV therapy initiation and retention since 2016.
“However despite these achievements, there is still a gap between the first 90, the second 90 and the last 90 days of the HIV cascade.
“Some people who test positive never start their treatment, some who were on treatment stopped taking ARVs. This gap has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The above challenges will require a differentiated model of care to reach all key and priority populations by multi sectors”, said Lesufi.
Treatment Action Campaign activists, Rinah Semadi said access to medication is still a problem so is the attitude of health care workers and stigma attached to HIV which are some of the contributing factors towards patients defaulting on their medicine..
“We had a shortage of TLD[Tenofovir, Lamivudine and Dolutegravir] so when we engaged with the chief director there was a denial. But at least four facilities didn’t have that medication. We are still experiencing shortages in facilities,” said Semadi.
