Young child survival and development

Young child survival and development

Nutrition

Nutrition

Maternal and newborn health

Maternal and newborn health

Water, sanitation and hygiene

Water, sanitation and hygiene

Immunization

Immunization

Malaria

Malaria

Basic education and gender equality

Basic education and gender equality

Child protection

Child protection

Birth registration

Birth registration

Children on the move

Children on the move

Violence, social and gender norms

Violence, social and gender norms

Child labour and commercial sexual exploitation

Child labour and commercial sexual exploitation

Children and AIDS

Children and AIDS

Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT)

Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT)

Paediatric treatment and care

Paediatric treatment and care

Preventing infections among adolescents and young people

Preventing infections among adolescents and young people

Protection, care and support for children affected by AIDS

Protection, care and support for children affected by AIDS

 

Preventing infections among adolescents and young people

© UNICEF/NYHQ2006-1379/Pirozzi

Two young people participate in a peer education training on HIV prevention in the township of Khayelitsa, South Africa.

In Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), about 2.7 million people aged 15 to 24 years live with HIV, more than half of all HIV-positive young people globally.

In the hyper-endemic countries Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, more than 1 in 10 young people are infected.

The risk of becoming infected is disproportionately higher for girls and young women. The regional HIV prevalence among young women aged 15 to 24 years is 4.8 percent, which is two and a half times higher than among men of the same age.

In Swaziland, for example, 15.6 percent of young women are HIV-positive, compared to 6.5 percent of young men.

The proportion of young people aged 15 to 24 years with comprehensive knowledge of HIV prevention, however, is still low in ESA. Comprehensive knowledge is a combination of 5 indicators: knowledge of 2 modes of transmission and 3 misconceptions. The regional average of such knowledge now stands at 41 percent for men and 33 percent for women.   Across the countries, enormous variations occur, ranging from 4 percent of young women with comprehensive knowledge of HIV prevention in Somalia to 65 percent in Namibia.