An annual youth programme that tries to offer new perspectives on various issues took place recently at the campus of Monash South Africa in Ruimsig, west of Johannesburg. The event, which started in 2001 and has been sponsored by Monash since 2003, was attended by about 120 grade 11 learners from Soweto and other areas.

What is it like to live as a child with HIV? How does a child such as this deal with death, the loss of a parent, poverty or medical treatment?

When I was a teenager in the Fifties, very few young girls were sexually active or fell pregnant and, of those who did, suicide was a common "solution". I fell pregnant at the age of 19 and the reaction from my family pushed me to the point where suicide was something I considered as a means of escape.

The latest report suggesting that there has been a possible slowdown of the HIV-epidemic in South Africa should be regarded as an act of providence, rather than something for which the department of health can claim credit.

An annual youth programme that tries to offer new perspectives on various issues took place recently at the campus of Monash South Africa in Ruimsig, west of Johannesburg. The event, which started in 2001 and has been sponsored by Monash since 2003, was attended by about 120 grade 11 learners from Soweto and other areas.

What is it like to live as a child with HIV? How does a child such as this deal with death, the loss of a parent, poverty or medical treatment?

When I was a teenager in the Fifties, very few young girls were sexually active or fell pregnant and, of those who did, suicide was a common "solution". I fell pregnant at the age of 19 and the reaction from my family pushed me to the point where suicide was something I considered as a means of escape.

The latest report suggesting that there has been a possible slowdown of the HIV-epidemic in South Africa should be regarded as an act of providence, rather than something for which the department of health can claim credit.