A community-based study to examine the effect of a youth HIV prevention programme in South Africa

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among changes in self-reported HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) and exposure to the loveLife youth HIV prevention programmes. A cross-sectional population-based household survey was conducted using a multistage stratified cluster sampling approach. The total sample included 3123 participants, aged 18-24, 54.6% men and 45.4% women, from four provinces (Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga). Results indicate a self-reported STI past-year prevalence of 2.6%, experienced genital sores or ulcers in the past year prevalence of 3.9% and an HIV self-reported prevalence of 7.4%. In multivariable analyses it was found that knowing a person living with HIV and a person who has died from AIDS, lower education, having had two or more sexual partners in the past year, not having talked with a partner about condom use, difficulty of getting condoms and not having been male circumcised were associated with having been diagnosed with an STI in the past 12 months and/or HIV. Face-to-face and multimedia youth HIV prevention programmes had limited effect.