Intimate Relations: Teen Moms and HIV
Kim Johnson
19 May 2011
Recent online news articles feature alarming teenage pregnancy statistics. KwaZulu-Natal saw no less than 17 260 teenage pregnancies in the past year. KZN is also infamous for being the province worst-hit by the HIV epidemic with HIV prevalence at a staggering 39.5% in 2009, which is on average ten to twenty per cent higher than the prevalence rates of seven of the country’s nine provinces.
The Sowetan interviewed Rosemary Rodriguez who works with teen mothers in KZN. Rodriguez cited the sexual exploitation of young women by older men as one of the driving forces of teen pregnancy. This points to unequal gender power relations as a key factor which should be addressed in HIV prevention efforts.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi was reported to have said that teen pregnancy was an issue which merited more concern than the spread of HIV. Motsoaledi’s statement is reminiscent of the media’s failure to make the connection between the two issues of HIV testing in schools and the incidence of teen pregnancy, in spite of the fact that the stories broke simultaneously.
Given that the main mode of HIV transmission is through heterosexual sex, the burgeoning population of teen moms does not bode well for HIV prevention efforts. Overwhelming teen pregnancy statistics are ultimately indicative of the fact that teens are engaging in unprotected sex, exposing themselves not only to unwanted pregnancy but also to HIV.
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