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alcohol abuse, child headed households, child protection week, sexual violence, sowetan, the new age

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“social problems seem monstrous on their own, including HIV in these equations can be daunting and demoralising to journalists”

No kidding: HIV and child protection week coverage

It is child protection week and coverage has been characterised by here-and-there reports on baby dumping, child abuse and children facing desperate poverty on a daily basis.

However very few of these reports have investigated how HIV intertwines with issues to create increasingly complex situations.

Two articles that appeared in The New Age (TNA) and the Sowetan both addressed issues facing South Africa’s children that necessitate the inclusion of HIV. But only the TNA article mentioned these problems in relation to how HIV impacts South Africa’s youngsters.

The Sowetan article reported that alcohol abuse among underage girls puts them at increased risk of sexual assault. But it ignores how this translates into an increased risk of HIV among the young women.

The links between HIV and sexual violence have been turned over in numerous reports that confirm that women who experience sexual violence are more likely to have the virus. Making the connections between sexual violence and HIV clear is especially crucial in a country with one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world; and where for more women than men are infected.

An article on child headed households in TNA did a better job of engaging with HIV as it affects children. This piece cemented the links between AIDS-related deaths and the increase in child headed households in impoverished areas.

The only concern is that this article could have gone further, questioning why child headed households are on the rise in an era of free and effective antiretroviral treatment (ART).

Given that these social problems seem monstrous on their own, including HIV in these equations can be daunting and demoralising to journalists. However the added dimensions that HIV brings changes our understanding of the issues and makes the path towards addressing them increasingly clear-cut.