New flavour for protection
Strawberry,
Banana, Vanilla those are some of the new flavoured condoms, which the
government will introduce. While South African male pride themselves from
taking free condoms, they rather gamble with their health and ignore the enemy
HIV/AIDS.
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| New Flavoured condoms: Image by Google image |
South Africans are using fewer condoms,
sleeping around more and becoming less knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS, says the
latest household survey by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), released
on Tuesday 08 April 2014. My concern as a black female is we are aware of this disease,
how it destroys homes and lives and living thousand kids to be orphans all in
the name of pride. In our communities there’s a certain a negative perception
that people have, that when you take a choice condom also known as government
condoms, you are seen as a man who is
cheap, with no dignity, while some feel embarrassed to take them as they are
afraid of being laughed at by their peers. Then the are those who can come up
with excuses for anything and everything, including why they don’t want to use government
condoms, this includes “it gives me a rash” “they have a bad scent”.
The following report was compiled based
on South African survey and statistics, the Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi
highlighted the following facts:
·
30% of the world’s ARV (antiretroviral)
patients are in SA.
·
Since
year 2002, the survey found 12.2% of South Africans were HIV positive in 2012,
up from 10.8% in 2008.
·
In
Year 2012, 6.4-million South Africans were HIV positive.
·
Almost
half-a-million (469,000) people had become infected in 2012
·
Over
two-thirds (67.5%) of young men aged between 15 and 24 reported using condoms
at their last sexual encounter in 2012, down from 85.2% in 2008.
·
Among
men aged between 25 and 49, condom use fell to 36.1%, down from 44.1% over the
same period. Women also reported using condoms less.
·
Almost
a quarter (23.1%) of men aged between 15 and 49 said they had multiple sexual
partners in 2012, up from 19.3% in 2008.
·
More
than 5% of women in the same age group said they had more than one sexual
partner. That was up from 3.7% in 2008.
Dr Motsoaledi said officials suspected
that young people saw the government-issue "Choice" condoms as staid
and boring, so they were to be replaced with a "new type of condom that
will bring excitement". The new versions, to be distributed at
universities and further education and training colleges next month, would be
flavoured and coloured.
The survey included interviews with 38,431
people, of whom 28,997 agreed to an HIV test. It found overall levels of
knowledge about HIV/AIDS were "low and falling", said Prof Shisana.
For example, only 22.7% of black men aged
between 25 and 49 knew how HIV was transmitted and rejected major myths and
misconceptions, down from 31.8% four years earlier.
Equally worrying, the proportion of
people reporting multiple sexual partners had increased, said Prof Shisana.
"We are beginning to see a disturbing trend that should be a concern for
all of us."
HIV/AIDS prevalence for women aged between 15 and 49 was 23.2%, but just 14.5% for men of the same age. HIV/AIDS prevalence was eight times higher among teenage girls aged between 15 and 19, at 5.6%, than among boys in the same age cohort, where prevalence was just 0.7%.
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| Now red is for strawberry: Image by Google image |
Our government need to come p with an
exciting campaign to attract the South African youth, not only to distribute
the flavoured condoms but to bring up the pros and cons of not using
protection, being sexually active at a young age and remind us of what HIV/
AIDS is. I hope they will give out free government flavoured condoms for
females too, in the near future. Ladies “Boys before books, bring babies ”
remember the 5B’s
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