The National Household Hiv Prevalence And Risk Survey Of South African Children

The National Household HIV Prevalence and Risk Survey of South African Children forms part of the Nelson Mandela/HSRC Study of HIV/AIDS: South African National HIV Prevalence, Behavioural Risks and Mass Media Household Survey 2002. This report provides information on HIV prevalence, orphanhood, risk factors for HIV infection and knowledge of HIV/AIDS among South African children. A total of 3 988 children aged 2 to 18 years participated in the survey. Caregivers of 2 138 children 2 to 11 years of of age answered a questionnaire on the child's behalf. A total of 740 children 12 to 14 years of age directly answered a separate questionnaire. An additional 1 110 children and between 15 and 18 years of age answered a youth questionnaire. Of the 3 988 children, 3 294 (82.6 per cent) provided a saliva specimen for HIV testing. The results show HIV prevalence among children 2 to 18 years of age to be 5.4 per cent. Prevalence was nearly constant across age groups and did not vary significantly. There were insufficient numbers to compare prevalence across race groups. The prevalence was higher than expected. Further studies are necessary to verify this finding.

A follow-up to the Nelson Mandela Foundation's 2002 national household survey of HIV/AIDS prevalence in South Africa, this 2005 report seeks to provide further understanding of the HIV pandemic. Using data that tested for HIV incidence rather than just using mortality statistics, this study looks at which socio-demographic groups are most vulnerab≤ whether new policies have been successful in fighting the disease; what exactly is being done by key players, such as the government, churches, and other civil society organizations; and how the spread of HIV can be reduced in South Africa.

Over 20 years ago Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was first documented and more than 15 years ago HIV was first identified as a causative agent for AIDS. Since then, the epidemic has spread throughout the world, but at an uneven pace. It is estimated that more than 60 million people worldwide have lived with HIV/AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic and 20 million of these have died (UNAIDS 2002). HIV/AIDS now affects every country in the world. Despite advances made in knowledge about HIV prevention, the disease continues to spread. Globally, sub-Saharan Africa is the most severely affected, with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) being home to half of the estimated 24 million people living with HIV/AIDS in this region (UNAIDS 2000). Country level estimates of HIV infection are usually based on surveys of women attending antenatal clinics. In South Africa over the past decade, this has been the primary means of monitoring the spread of HIV. Antenatal surveillance systems provide countries with a low-cost tool for regularly monitoring key aspects of the HIV epidemic. For example, the data can be used to track the epidemic in different parts of a country or among a specific age cohort. The antenatal survey's major usefulness is to track trends of HIV infections over time.

In the past decade, the national preoccupation has been on the crisis in secondary schools. Lurking behind the intractable problem of low pass rates, the dysfunctional schools and the small number of higher grade mathematics and science graduates is the calamity in primary education. Drawing on the work of researchers in a range of fields including psychology, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, economics, the health sciences, and mathematics education, this book documents the depth and scope of the primary education crisis and provides a comprehensive and rigorous explanation of its causes. Primary education in crisis pulls together the wealth of research on health, poverty, resources, language and teaching as factors in academic achievement in reading, writing and mathematics. At the centre of the book is an analysis of the published studies that systematically document what teachers teach and fail to teach, and why it is that teaching is at the heart of the crisis in primary education. The author suggests that there are no quick fixes, but only hard choices and that, for reform to succeed, it must be evidence-based.

In collaboration with several partner organizations, the project currently focuses on how children, families and communities in Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe are coping with the impact of HIV/AIDS. The aim of the project is to develop models of best practise so as to enhance and improve support structures for OVC in the southern African region as a whole.

The publication provides a literature review of HIV/AIDS, Stima and Children.