HIV prevention - The African Mirror

Feb

2024

By JEN MANNE-GOEHLER, FRANCESC XAVIER GOMEZ-OLIVE CASAS, JULIA ROHR, KATHLEEN KAHN, NOMSA MAHLALELA and TILL BÄRNIGHAUSEN

HIV among older South Africans in rural areas: big study shows there’s a problem that’s being neglected

HEALTH

SOUTH Africa continues to have a high prevalence of HIV among all age groups. About 8.2 million people or 13.7% of the population live with HIV, one of the highest rates in the world. The country also has one of the world’s most impressive antiretroviral therapy programmes. Over 5 million people living with HIV are currently on chronic treatment. Widespread access to antiretroviral therapies since 2008 has led to millions of people ageing with chronic HIV infection. Consequently, people with HIV are older on average than they were just a decade ago. Most HIV prevention and treatment programmes and policies…

Dec

2022

By The African Mirror

HIV prevention: new injection could boost the fight, but some hurdles remain

HEALTH

WHILE the world has focused on the COVID pandemic for nearly three years, less and less attention is being paid to HIV. However, HIV is still a global problem. In 2021, according to the United Nations, 38.4 million people were living with HIV, over 650,000 died from AIDS-related illnesses, and 1.5 million became newly infected. Nearly 70% of infections occur in key groups: sex workers and their clients, men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, and transgender people and their sexual partners. Adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa are another important group, with nearly 5,000…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Large Africa study makes important breakthrough in HIV prevention

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

WOMEN make up more than half of the people living with HIV around the world. Young women between the ages of 10 and 24 are twice as likely to get HIV as young men in the same age group. In East and Southern Africa young women will acquire HIV on average five to seven years earlier than their male peers. SINEAD DELANY-MORETLWE, Associate Professor and Director: Research at the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute I, University of the Witwatersrand Researchers have been working hard to find effective HIV prevention measures. Most notable is the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) pill known…