Infect one, infect all: Zulu youth response to the aids epidemic in South Africa

Abstract

The province of KwaZulu-Natal leads South Africa in HIV/AIDS infection, with over two-thirds of the currently estimated 1.8 million cases. Recent studies show that the spread of HIV is accelerating, especially among young people under the age of 25. For Zulu township youth, HIV infection has come to be accepted as a new and inevitable part of growing up. Ongoing political violence and high levels of crime characterize the townships, from which has emerged a youth culture where young people who suspect they may be infected with HIV will avoid a definite diagnosis while at the same time seek to spread the infection as widely as possible. This response to the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic is examined against the cultural ethos of ubuntu and the strategies once used by youth to forge solidarity in their struggle against the former white regime. The social impact of this response, which may include increasing rape incidence, is discussed.