South African HIV Prevalence, Incidence, Behaviour and Communication Survey, 2008

13 May 2010

This is a summary of the report as released on 13 May 2010. The complete report is available at: http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/product.php?productid=2279&freedownload=1

Background

HIV/AIDS continues to pose a challenge in South Africa, as it does in many countries in the Southern Africa region. The past few years have however seen notable progress made to address the challenges posed by HIV/AIDS in the country, particularly among children. This has mainly been attributed to the successful implementation of the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programme among young children and their mothers and behaviour change involving increased condom use among youth.

While progress has been made in recent years in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in the country, it is nevertheless important to review activities and initiatives aimed at addressing other infant and child health issues, as well as with maternal health.

To review these important issues, developments and remaining challenges, a survey was conducted in 2008 by a consortium led by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). It focussed on the health of children in the age bracket 0–18 years. It analysed data gathered for the Third South African National HIV, Behaviour and Health Survey, 2008.

The survey covered a range of factors such as the following:

Place of birth and presence of birth attendants;
Immunisation against childhood diseases;
Infant feeding;
Scarification;
Perceived health status and health care utilisation;
Antenatal care (ANC) attendance during pregnancy and HIV testing;
Behavioural determinants of HIV infection, access to behavioural change communication as well as contextual factors such as orphanhood and child-headed households; and
Poverty (or household income) and risk factors and risk environments for children at home and at school.

The survey has provided government with valuable information, which will be used to revise and update some of its policies and programmes to ensure that the health of mothers and children in the country is not compromised.

Key survey findings

Maternal health and vaccination

97% of pregnant mothers had accessed antenatal care during pregnancy and around three‐quarters (71.4%) had received antenatal services five times during their pregnancy.
Around half of women (46.5%) attended antenatal care before 20 weeks of pregnancy and 95.5% had been offered an HIV antibody test.
Antiretroviral (ART) treatment for HIV positive women with a CD4 count of 300 and below has been introduced in the country.
Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) for HIV is actively being encouraged in the country as part of a comprehensive awareness and prevention drive.
The majority of children have access to public health services in South Africa and children are mostly taken to health‐care providers for health checks, immunisation or due to ill‐health.
The study reported good administering for vaccination administered at birth for protection against tuberculosis.

Infant and child nutrition

25.7 percent of South Africa’s children are exclusively breast-fed for their first six months of life, which is in line with World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.
The promotion and support of exclusive breast feeding has shown success with an overall threefold increase in recent years.
22.5 percent of children are given only infant formula and 51.3 percent are fed both breast and formula milk.

Child health

The majority (94 percent) of children between the ages of 2-18 years are in excellent or good health.
Although limited, health conditions common most common in the 2-18 age groups are asthma, allergies and poor vision. It is noted that 80.2% of those with asthma receives appropriate medication.

HIV prevalence

HIV prevalence has dropped by more than half in children ages 2-14. According to the survey, HIV prevalence dropped from 5.6% in 2002 to 2.5% in 2008.
This pattern could be indicative of a possible positive impact of the national programme to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT).

Awareness and communication

HIV/AIDS awareness and behavioural adaptation among the youth is quite good. This is generally due to the effectiveness and extensive communication of the main national HIV/AIDS communication programmes.
Communication could however be improved among especially home-language speakers of English, Afrikaans, Xitsonga and Tshivenda.
Parents, friends and health facilities are the most prominent sources of AIDS information.
While parents discuss sexual abuse with children, they are less likely to discuss HIV transmission or prevention.

[ Top ]

Last modified: 21 June 2010 15:34:02.