Indulging Sexual Fantasies Instead of Protecting Public Health: Not Acting on Evidence Young Women in South Africa Got HIV from Non-Sexual Risks

Abstract

Governments outside sub-Saharan Africa have investigated unexpected HIV infections (not from sex, mother-to-baby, or injection drug use) to protect public health. Unexpected infections are common in South Africa, but government has not investigated any of them to find linked infections and to find and stop their sources. Here’s an example: a 2011-17 study in Mpumalanga province reported 82 HIV infections in self-reported virgin women. Government did not investigate. The study team suggests HIV-positive women were not virgins and withholds evidence about women’s HIV risks. Even so, the study has disclosed enough about women’s self-reported sexual behavior to estimate sex accounts for less than a quarter of new infections in women followed and re-tested over three years. Despite unexpected infections in this study and many other similar alarms, public health officials, doctors, nurses, researchers, and the general public continue to sleep, and South Africa’s HIV nightmare continues.

Keywords: HIV, South Africa, adolescents, blood-borne risks, sex risks

JEL Classification: I18