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. 2022 Apr 9;15(1):132.
doi: 10.1186/s13104-022-06006-2.

Past and current status of adolescents living with HIV in South Africa, 2005-2017

Inbarani Naidoo  1 , Sinovuyo Takatshana  2 , Ronel Sewpaul  3 , Sean Jooste  3 , Zhou Siyanai  4 , Goitseone Maseko  2 , Sizulu Moyo  3   5 , Khangelani Zuma  2   6 , Musawenkosi Mabaso  7 , Zungu Nompumelelo  3   8
Affiliations

Past and current status of adolescents living with HIV in South Africa, 2005-2017

Inbarani Naidoo et al. BMC Res Notes. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Objectives: This paper reports HIV prevalence, incidence, progress towards the UNAIDS (90-90-90) targets, and HIV drug resistance among adolescents living with HIV in South Africa. We conducted secondary analyses using data extracted from the South African national HIV prevalence surveys (2005-2017). Analyses were stratified by sex and age (10-14 and 15-19-years), presenting weighted descriptive statistics, and realised totals.

Results: HIV prevalence increased from 3.0% in 2012 to 3.7% in 2017, translating to 360 582 (95% CI 302 021-419 144) HIV positive adolescents in 2017. Female adolescents bear a disproportionate HIV burden of 5.6% prevalence versus 0.7% for males. HIV incidence remained relatively stable. For the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets, approximately 62.3% of adolescents knew their HIV status, 65.4% of whom were on antiretroviral therapy, and of these 78.1% on antiretroviral therapy had attained viral load suppression. There are knowledge gaps pertaining to the magnitude of perinatal infections and postnatal infections, and socio-behavioural risk factors for HIV transmission among adolescents in South Africa. There is still a need for focussed interventions targeting adolescent (1) gender disparities in HIV risk (2) screening for HIV, (3) sustained access and adherence to antiretroviral therapy and (3) retention in care to maintain viral load suppression.

Keywords: Adolescents; Gender; HIV; Perinatal; South Africa; UNAIDS (90-90-90) targets.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Trends in HIV prevalence among adolescents aged 10–19 years, South Africa 2005, 2008, 2017
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Gaps in achieving UNAIDS targets among adolescents living with HIV, South Africa 2017 based on the 90–81–73% cascade
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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