The HIV/AIDS Pandemic among Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa

HIV/AIDS seriously affects adolescents throughout the world. One-third of all currently infected individuals are youth, ages 15 to 24, and half of allnew infections occur in youth the same age. More than five young people acquire HIV infection every minute; over 7,000, each day; and more than 2.6 million each year.

About 1.7 million new adolescent HIV infections—over half of the world's total—occur in sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, nearly 70 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS live in sub-Saharan Africa, and over 80 percent of AIDS deaths have occurred there. Although HIV/AIDS rates vary considerably throughout sub-Saharan Africa—generally lower in western Africa and higher in southern Africa—the epidemic has had a devastating effect on most African youth who often lack access to sexual health information and services. In particular, unmarried youth have great difficulty getting needed sexual health services. At the same time, cultural, social, and economic norms and pressures often put young African women at excess risk for HIV infection.

Leaders of some African nations, once unable to acknowledge the presence of HIV/AIDS, now publicly address HIV prevention and appoint task forces to mobilize and coordinate efforts against the epidemic. In addition, business coalitions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) often lead in utilizing peer education, advocacy, youth-friendly service delivery, and social marketing to battle HIV infection in sub-Saharan African nations. Some NGOs encourage youth to get involved in finding and implementing ways to stop the spread of HIV.

African Youth Face Fast Growing Rates of Infection with HIV and Other STDs.

• Experts estimate that half a million African youth, ages 15 to 24, will die from AIDS by the year 2005. In African countries with long, severe epidemics, half of all infected people acquire HIV before their 25th birthday and die by the time they turn 35.
• The epidemic means that African youth face a bleak future. In 1997 in Zimbabwe, half of all 15-year-old males could expect to die before age 50 compared to 15 percent in 1983. Between 1983 and 1997, 15-year-old females' risk of death prior to age 40 quadrupled from 11 to over 40 percent.
• Infection with a sexually transmitted disease (STD), especially one that causes genital ulcers, such as herpes or syphilis, puts one at increased risk for HIV infection, and sexually active youth in sub-Saharan Africa are at high risk for STD infection. For example, 10 to 20 percent of the sexually active population of sub-Saharan Africa is infected with gonorrhea.

Learn more at: http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/431?task=view