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aaron motsoaledi, condoms, contraceptives, family planning, hiv prevention, safe sex, safe sex messaging, teen pregnancy, the new age, unprotected sexPregnancy and HIV: Two birds two stones?
Kim Johnson
11 August 2011
Confused head-scratching must have been what greeted an article in The New Age which featured a bizarre and uncontextualised quote from Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on HIV prevention and teen pregnancy.
TNA has quoted Motsoaledi as saying, “We were so caught up with preventing HIV infection that we forgot that there was another problem of teenage pregnancy.”
Say what Mr. Health Minister?
Shouldn’t HIV prevention programmes have killed two birds with one stone? Tackling the pregnancy problem and the HIV problem together?
Motsoaledi’s apparent separation of the prevention of unwanted teen pregnancies and HIV prevention is very confusing given that condom use prevents all of the above.
The shockingly high numbers of pregnant schoolgirls is actually proof that safe sex campaigns have failed because pregnant bellies are a pretty clear indication that the cheapest, safest and easiest way to prevent HIV, pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is not being utilized.
Earlier in the year when the alarming number of teen pregnancies came to light, the proposal to start HIV-testing in schools was strongly opposed despite all the pregnancies blatantly pointing to the fact that school children were having unprotected sex.
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