Marginalized Knowledge: An Agenda for Indigenous Knowledge Development and Integration with Other Forms of Knowledge

Gender dimension of HIV/AIDS in South Africa

South Africa is the country in the world with the most people living daily with HIV and where the most rapid growth in the HIV-pandemic in the world is occurring (Dorrington et al, 2001, DoH, 2000). HIV/AIDS in South Africa has a very clear gender dimension. According to Dorrington et al, (2006) 17.8% of all infections in South Africa are adult men (age 20-64). For women of the same age, infection rates are 19.2%. The gender dimension of HIV/AIDS in South Africa is, however, more apparent among the youth. Males aged 15-24 make up only 3.7% of all infections, while young women of the same age group contribute to 16.9% of all infections. Fifty-five percent of all infections in South Africa are women (DoH, 2007).