Factors associated with self-reported HIV and TB morbidity among youth in South Africa

Abstract

Background: South Africa not only has the highest number of people living with HIV, but it is also one of the countries on WHO's top 30 list of countries with high-burden tuberculosis and has one of the highest incidence rates of notified tuberculosis in the world. Previous studies on HIV and TB individually and both combined but most of which are focused on the testing, treatment and the risky sexual behaviours impacting the diseases, however, there are limited studies that focuses on the socio-demographic factors. The main aim of this study was to examine the socio-demographic factors associated with self-reported HIV and TB morbidity among youth in South Africa. Methods: The study used 2024 General Household Survey data sourced from Statistics South Africa. Three level of analysis were employed namely: (univariate analysis: frequency and percentages; Bivariate: Cross tabulation and Chi-square; multivariate: binary logistics regression). Results: The study examined the relationship between self-reported HIV and TB and age, sex, marital status, population group, highest level of education, household wealth, household composition, main dwelling, geographic type and province using binary logistic regression. Results revealed that age, sex, population group, highest level of education, household wealth, geographic type were significant predictors of self-reported HIV. Youth age 30-34 [AOR: 5.71 95%CI: 3.86-8.44], female [AOR: 3.16 95%CI: 2.27-4.04], black (reference category), primary or lower [AOR: 1.58 95%CI: 1.08-2.31], households with poor wealth index (reference category), urban geography type (reference category) and Eastern Cape [AOR: 4.15 95%CI: 2.67-6.46], showed highest odds of self-reported HIV morbidity. While for TB the results revealed that age group, main dwelling and province are statistically associated with self-reported TB. Youth aged 30-34 [AOR: 2.15 95%CI:1.05-4.38], traditional main dwelling [AOR: 2.8 95%CI: 0.49-3.65] and Eastern Cape province [AOR: 7.22 95%CI:2.78-18.76] showed the highest odds of self-reported TB morbidity. Conclusion: The study has identified the socio-demographic factors that are associated with self-reported HIV and TB morbidity among the youth in South Africa. As such the study calls for interventions such as having targeted education on the prevention and treatment of HIV and TB, gender-based interventions, poverty reduction and to improve the living conditions of the youth.