6 OUT OF 7 OF ALL THE NEW HIV INFECTIONS IN YOUNG PEOPLE ARE GIRLS

By Thomas Ngala

Those men who start having sex with young girls even though she is the one who was behaving in a funny manner, they are still wrong, Dr Connie Obsorne has said.

The National HIV/AIDS/STI/TB Council (NAC) Director General told Daily Star in an interview that whether the child is the one who attracted the adult because she wanted a cellphone, the adult did take advantage of that situation.

She also disclosed that six out of seven of all the new infections that happen in adolescents and young people are girls.

“Six out of seven of all the new infections that happen in adolescents and young people are girls. Because the girls are actually more sexually active that the boys. If you look at the age group even 10 to 19 girls compared to 10 to 19 boys, the girls are three, four even five times more likely to be HIV Positive,” she said.

“So when they (females) are 15 to 24, they are sexually active…they tend to have a high risk of getting infected, they are more likely to be HIV positive. When they get to 24, over 24, they want to get married.”

She explained that the young girls get sexually active with older men and that they tend to marry people from their age group in their later stage.

Dr Obsorne disclose that peer pressure is amongst the things that drive young people to start engaging in unprotected sex with older men.

“They are sexually active with older men, the blessers, the people with money…but they marry people in their age group who are more likely to be negative and they are more likely to get infected from them if they don’t talk about it,” she said.

“I always say regardless of whether the child is the one who attracted the adult because she wanted a cellphone, the adult did take advantage of that situation. Those men who start having sex with young girls even though she is the one who was behaving in a funny manner, they are still wrong.”