"28% of South African school girls infected with HIV"-- Good news/Bad news

So I freaked out a couple weeks ago when the statistic came out that "28% of South African school girls are infected with HIV":

The good news is, this statistic is WRONG:

Media get it wrong on SA schoolgirls' HIV statistics

Last week the Mail & Guardian used a South African Press Association (Sapa) article on its site incorrectly stating that 28% of South Africa's schoolgirls were infected by HIV, compared with 4% of schoolboys.

But the fact-checking organisation, Africa Check, reported that Motsoaledi's speech at a "taking Parliament to the people event" in Carolina in Mpumalanga was misinterpreted by a Sowetan journalist and was then re-reported by other news companies and agencies.

Oh thank god. 28% of girls infected? My brain couldnt handle that.

Yeah, now for the bad news-- The 28% figure wasnt right for all of South Africa. It was right for a specific group of school kids in South Africa.

Motsoaledi said on Friday the statistics that were incorrectly quoted were on an HIV testing and counselling campaign, which actually found a small number of schools in the Natal Midlands were particularly hard-hit by HIV. Of the group of children tested there, 28% of girls were infected by the disease compared to 4% of boys.

Uuuuuuugh *headinhands*  Uuuuuugh. Dammit.

Theres also this:

Media mis-reporting HIV rate among SA schoolgirls. True rate is 12.7 percent

The most recent statistics, compiled as part of a 2011 HIV and syphilis survey, which was published last year by the Department of Health, indicate that HIV prevalence among young women aged between 15 and 19 was around 12.7% in 2011, a decrease on the previous year’s figure of 14%.

This is less than half the figure in the Sowetan’s headline.

It is even less than the figure (20.5%) for HIV prevalence among pregnant women aged 15-24, a population group who are always likely to have a higher prevalence rate than all schoolgirls, for obvious reasons.

Uuuuugh. Uuuuugh the 'real' stats dont make me feel any better. Dammit. Uuuuuuuugh...

More like this

What a joke, prevalence rates down to fractions of a percent. Wouldn't trust any figures put out by an SA government department.

True, it's much safer to trust an unsourced statement on the internet.

The actual numbers are sadly sobering. On out of 8 kids. :-(

Sorry, Divalent-- but your "one out of 8 kids" math appears to be incorrect.
Nearly 1 in 8 females (age 15 to 24) not "kids" overall.