SA student study finds 3.4% are HIV positive

A major new study on the HIV prevalence at universities and colleges has found that 3.4% of students were HIV positive – an HIV prevalence that is less than half of that of the general adult population (about 10%).

24 000 students and staff took part in the research, which revealed that the HIV rates were:
*1.5% among academic staff
* 4.4% administrative staff and
*12.2% among service staff

Despite the lower prevalence, students were practising risky sexual behaviour the research by the Higher Education HIV and AIDS Programme (HEAIDS) study found.

Nearly one in five men and one in 16 women had more than one sexual partner the month before they took part in the study.

This study showed – like many previous studies – that female students (4.7% HIV positive) were at much greater risk of infection than male students (1.5%).

Students with sexually transmitted diseases were at higher risk of HIV than others: 12.1% of women and 6.5% of men who had STDs were HIV positive.

Eastern Cape students had the highest rates of HIV at 6.4%, and Western Cape students the lowest at 1.1%.

Condom use was common, with 65% of male students using condoms, but students in relationships usually stopped using condoms use after three months.

Alcohol and binge drinking were associated with casual sex and with coercive sex.

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