Students have lower HIV rate

The Eastern Cape has the highest number of university students who have contracted HIV, according to a recent study on the prevalence of the disease at South African universities.

Speaking in Sandton, Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande told university chancellors and vice-chancellors that he would throw his weight behind a campaign to raise awareness of the epidemic on campuses.

A study commissioned by the department of higher education found that 6.4% of Eastern Cape students were infected with the disease, followed by 6.1% in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Free State had the third-highest incidence, with 5.3%. In Gauteng, Limpopo and North West the incidence was 2.2%.

Western Cape registered the lowest infection rate, 1.1%.

The survey was done at 21 of South Africa's 23 universities and had more than 23000 respondents.

It found that an average of 3.4% of students was infected and 1.5% of academic staff were HIV-positive.

Nzimande said he was pleased that the figures compared favourably to the 16.9% HIV infection rate of all South Africans aged between 15 and 49.

"It is encouraging that higher education is taking the issue of this pandemic very seriously," he said.

"We can skill young people, but if we don't incorporate HIV/Aids awareness, we are merely training our young people for the grave."

Francois Venter, president of the HIV/Aids Clinicians' Society, said he was surprised by the findings of the survey. He said researchers should find out why there was a difference between the prevalence of HIV at universities and in society in general.

"These results are surprisingly lower than expected considering the high infection rate among young people in this country," he said.

"Maybe it's because university students come from stable homes where they are taught preventative measures, or it could be their virtue in society, or even their level of education. We just hope that this will give us clues as to how we can combat the spread of HIV/Aids."

The study showed that 9.9% of campus workers are HIV-positive compared with 4.4% of administrative staff.

Nzimande said that, though depressing, the results of the survey were a reflection of broader society, in which "class is always a contributing factor".

He said HIV/Aids prevalence in universities mirrored that of society in terms of distribution among population groups. He said he was concerned about the higher infection rate among blacks and women.

"Perceptions of risk among women on our campuses are too high and the study points to concerns about sexual harassment," he said.

The survey found that female students were more than twice as likely to be infected with HIV than their male counterparts, with 4.7% of them infected as opposed to 2% of men.

It was found that 19% of male students had more than one sexual partner in the month prior to the survey, whereas only 7% of female students had more than one sexual partner in that time.

The survey found that HIV prevalence among students increased dramatically with age.