{{As many as 28 percent of South African schoolgirls are HIV positive, according to figures from the country’s health minister reported by local media on Thursday.}}<\/p>\n
Unveiling statistics that minister Aaron Motsoaledi admitted “destroyed my soul,” he added that four percent of schoolboys have the virus.<\/p>\n
“It is clear that it is not young boys who are sleeping with these girls. It is old men,” the Sowetan newspaper quoted Motsoaledi as saying.<\/p>\n
“We can no longer live like that,” he said.<\/p>\n
Motsoaledi called for an end to the trend of young girls becoming involved with “sugar daddies.”<\/p>\n
Motsoaledi also revealed that 94,000 South African schoolgirls fell pregnant in 2011, some aged as young as 10.<\/p>\n
South Africa has one of the world’s highest HIV\/AIDS infection rates, although the number of cases resulting in death is in sharp decline.<\/p>\n
Official figures show that South Africa has six million people living with HIV, in a population of 50 million.<\/p>\n
The country has the largest anti-retroviral programme in the world, serving 1.7 million.<\/p>\n
The health department recently introduced measures to curb the spread of HIV among school children, introducing voluntary testing and suggesting condom distribution at schools.<\/p>\n
(AFP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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