Young South African girls are being forced into marrying older men with HIV because of a myth that sleeping with a virgin can cure the disease, CNN reported.

In the country’s rural villages, girls as young as 12 are coerced into marrying older HIV-positive men in exchange for payment to their parents. This is a tradition called "Ukuthwala," which means “to pick up” or “to take.”

On top of being pushed into unwanted marriage, the child brides are in serious danger of catching the deadly disease, as HIV is most commonly transmitted through sexual intercourse.

According to Nombasa Gxuluwe, a field worker for the World Aids campaign, this is due to an absurd myth.

“There’s a myth if you sleep with a young girl who is a virgin and as a man you are HIV-positive then HIV can be cured. That’s why they are focusing on these young girls,” she said.

Gxuluwe and her colleagues are trying to end this practice through raising awareness of illegality of under-aged sex and abduction. They also have provided a safe house for those who manage to escape their illegal marriages.

However, it is not easy getting the victims back to their communities.

Some are infected with the critical disease, and others are no longer wanted by their families because they are seen as “rebellious, uncontrollable, because they are not obeying the rules of the parents, of the community,” according to Gxuluwe.



From news reports