While university students in the Free State will be among students forming part of a national trial study aimed at reducing the number of HIV infected youth in the country, the provincial Department of Health says it hasn’t received word as yet on how it will be involved in this roll-out programme.
Last week, several national media outlets reported the trial study by the Higher Education and Training HIV & AIDS (HEAIDS) programme, which works with the Department of Higher Education, will see students at seven universities in the country being given Truvada, which is an HIV-preventative medicine.
This study will be aimed at providing youth at universities, particularly young women between the ages of 15 and 25 as they remain the most vulnerable group at risk of contracting HIV in South Africa, with the HIV preventative medicine.
Another objective of the study will be to assess if there is a demand for this type of preventative medication. Similar pilot studies conducted in recent years failed in South Africa and other SADC countries. Students participating must be HIV negative and will need to undergo medical tests as well as attend counselling sessions before starting the treatment.
The spokesperson at the Free State Department of Health, Mondli Mvambi, however, cautions that this study is not a licence for young people to engage in any irresponsible sexual behaviour. “We would like to encourage our students and young people to preserve themselves and not engage in sexual relations prematurely. Medicine of any kind should be used as a last resort on cases and circumstances that are beyond individual’s control. We trust that our students and young people will focus on empowering themselves rather than to render themselves vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases,” Mvambi said.
The University of the Free State (UFS) will form part of the seven provinces identified as those that will participate in this study.
Other universities are Nelson Mandela University‚ Rhodes University‚ University of Limpopo‚ University of the Free State‚ University of Venda‚ University of Zululand and Vaal University of Technology.
The national HEAIDS office spokesperson could not be reached for comment, while the provincial spokesperson for the Department of Education, Howard Ndaba, stated that he did not know about the study by HEAIDS.
PULANE CHOANE
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