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Youth Sexuality and HIV/AIDS: Issues and Contentions

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Vulnerabilities, Impacts, and Responses to HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The vulnerability of youth to HIV infection, defined by the United Nations and the World Bank as persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years (World Bank 2011), has been receiving greater attention recently after years of neglect (UNAIDS 2012, pp. 26–28). The fact that nearly half of all new HIV infections worldwide occur in this age group indicates that youth may be central to the dynamics of the epidemic (Edström and Khan 2009). The need for further studies of youth in Sub-Saharan Africa is clearly indicated by their high vulnerability to HIV infection; youth prevalence rates are estimated to average 4.8% in the region but between 10% and 22.1% in the eight most affected eastern and southern African countries. Rates are significantly higher in some national and many local populations due to the relatively wider margins of error for youth than adults in estimated prevalence rates (UNAIDS 2010, p. 183). Studies of the vulnerability of youth are particularly urgent because of the intergenerational reproduction of structural disadvantages and social determinants of HIV vulnerability linked to lack of education, inequality, and orphaning (Edström and Khan 2009). Moreover, a better understanding of the changing knowledge, attitudes, and sexual behavior of youth may significantly contribute to shaping future interventions and coping behaviors in the region.

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  1. Woldekidan Amde
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  2. Getnet Tadele
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© 2013 Woldekidan Amde and Getnet Tadele

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Amde, W., Tadele, G. (2013). Youth Sexuality and HIV/AIDS: Issues and Contentions. In: Vulnerabilities, Impacts, and Responses to HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137009951_4

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