HIV still taking its toll

Forty years after HIV was first described, about 4,000 people acquire the virus each day, and most of them are young people, News24 reports. Girls and young women ages 15–24 account for 63% of all new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa. Although boys and young men are relatively less affected compared to their female peers, 1.94 million of them are living with HIV worldwide. To achieve the goal of an HIV-free generation in South Africa, the Gauteng provincial leader of the Treatment Action Committee recommends a “back to basics” school curriculum that supports comprehensive sexual and reproductive health rights. A professor with the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa also emphasises the importance of retaining young people in school and of interventions such as voluntary medical male circumcision (News24, 3 December 2021).