South African Teen Sex Challenges Anti-AIDS Fight

Official figures show some 13.7 percent of pregnant teenage girls are HIV-positive in South Africa, highlighting the challenge health officials face in lowering risky behaviors and infections among youths.

The foundation of the government's HIV prevention program has been "ABC" -- Abstain from sex, Be faithful, and use Condoms. While a survey released this year by the Medical Research Council showed that 38 percent of teens ages 13-19 reported having had sex in 2008, just 31 percent of sexually active students said they regularly used condoms. Nearly one in five had been pregnant or gotten someone pregnant.

"Sexual coercion is very common, and girls are often unable to 'choose' safe sex or to access contraception," said Rebecca Hodes, deputy director of the University of Cape Town's AIDS and Society Research Unit.

Botha Swarts, spokesperson for the state-funded group Lovelife, said, "Seventy percent of calls received at our call center are from young people who are peer-pressured into doing things they are not ready to, for example sex to prove love. ..."

"Being a virgin is not cool at all," said one 14 year-old girl. "Having the latest cell phone or wearing designer clothes doesn't make you cool anymore. You need that extra little something that will make people take notice. If you take pictures of yourself posing sexy or better yet have a sex video and post them on Facebook or circulate them ... maybe you will be cool."

Swarts said campaigns must address the realities of adolescent life in South Africa. "What is often sexy to adolescents is the idea of risk itself," she said. "The power and mystique of raunchy, casual sexual encounters is promoted perpetually by the mass media. This is very difficult for safe-sex campaigns to counter."