Acceptability and use of a virtual support group for HIV-positive youth in Khayelitsha, Cape Town using the MXit social networking platform.

Introduction: Médecins Sans Frontières supports human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected youth, aged 12-25 years, at a clinic in Khayelitsha, South Africa. Patients are enrolled in youth clubs, and provided with a virtual chat room, using the cell-phone-based social networking platform, MXit, to support members between monthly/bimonthly club meetings. The acceptability and uptake of MXit was assessed.

Choice or no choice? The need for better branded public sector condoms in South Africa.

Condoms are one of the cornerstones to any response to the HIV epidemic. However, targeted marketing strategies that make condoms more attractive to people at high risk of infection are often overlooked. The South African National Department of Health has recently purchased more attractive condoms to distribute in higher-education settings free of charge, targeting at-risk youth including young women.