S. African teen condom access uneven

BOSTON, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- South Africa allows schools to give children age 12 and older condoms to fight the spread of HIV but distribution is sketchy, U.S. researchers have found.

Juliana Han of the Harvard Law School and Michael Bennish of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health -- both affiliated with the South African non-governmental health organization Mpilonhle -- said the rights afforded by South Africa's 2007 Children's Act reflect growing concern about the spread of HIV -- the virus that causes AIDS -- among the country's youth. South Africa has the highest number of people living with human immunodeficiency virus in the world.

"Despite the high incidence of HIV in adolescents, and the efficacy of condoms in preventing HIV transmission, condom use rates among adolescents remain low, due at least in part to limited access," the study authors said in a statement.

The Children's Act, together with South African government policies, allows individual schools to decide whether to distribute condoms, but most school staff are unaware of the policy and regulations, the researchers said.

"Because of confusing and contradictory government policies and public pronouncements regarding provision of condoms in public schools, few schools have undertaken to provide condoms, leaving students, especially in rural areas, with few options for obtaining them," the researchers said.

The findings are published in the journal PLoS Medicine.