HIV/Aids: Worry over high rate of infection among men over 49 and women under 24
Wednesday September 01 2021
Data shows that in 2020, 150,000 girls aged 15 were HIV positive compared with 74,000 men of the same age. PHOTO | FILE
Since 2016, every four months about 4,000 adolescent girls give birth in the country. Also, HIV/Aids is six times more prevalent in women aged 15-24 than men of the same age.
Despite efforts to create a conducive environment for women in Rwanda, sexual and reproductive health-related issues continue to threaten adolescent girls.
UNAids data shows that in 2020, 150,000 girls aged 15 were HIV positive compared with 74,000 men of the same age. HIV prevalence rate in girls aged 15- 24 is 1.4 as opposed to 0.6 in men of the same age.
The data also shows a similarly high prevalence rate in men aged above the age of 49, which is 1.8. Both categories, young women between 15- 24 and men above 49 account for the bulk of HIV patients in Rwanda, following sex workers.
“These girls are neither infected by their agemates nor are they born with the virus. A clear reason is that older men, above the age of 49, are transmitting HIV to younger girls,” said Narcisse Nteziryayo, prevention programmes manager at Aids Healthcare Foundation, a non-profit organisation providing healthcare to HIV/Aids patients.
A research paper published by HDI in January on adolescent relationships in Rwanda: Dating, couple conflict, and sexuality, established that young women below the age of 24 are likely to be involved in sexual relationships with men above the age of 45. The country’s female population total 6.58 million, making women the majority. Over 60 percent of them are under the age of 35, according to the last Rwanda Population and Housing Census in 2012.
Gender-based violence, poverty, gender disparity, and injustices have been what WHO dubbed “shadow pandemics” since 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
The pandemic’s disproportionate impact on women and girls’ socio-economic welfare threatens to reverse the hard-won gains in advancing gender equality and women's empowerment.
A total of 19,701 girls from all over the country gave birth between January and December 2020, bringing the number of teenage births to 98,347 during the past four years.
Early pregnancy is one of the factors that exposes young women to HIV/Aids, while they struggle financially and get exposed to risky sexual behaviours.