Religious leaders do not easily get involved in HIV prevention for young people since discussing sexuality publicly is taboo. A self-administrated questionnaire survey was conducted among local religious leaders (n=215) August-October 2008, when they convened at regional meetings in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The questionnaire included socio-demographic data, previous HIV education and attitudes to HIV prevention for young people, policy issues, and questions on stigma. The participants (186 males, 29females) were affiliated to the Catholic Church (66), Lutheran church (82),and the Assemblies of God (67). Religious leaders regarded themselves as responsible for educating young people about HIV, and were interested in topics concerning young people’s sexuality. However, only 39% reported that their church had run a life-skill programme for youth in the last six months. The results indicated that religious leaders who had participated in HIV training were more likely to have arranged a life-skill programme for young people and also more likely to have taken an HIV test.

Religious leaders were positive about further training on HIV- related issues, and if learning opportunities are offered to them, this might increase their involvement in HIV prevention among young people.

Faith communities exert a powerful influence on the life of their members, and studies are needed about how they may be able to influence young people's attitudes regarding sexuality and HIV prevention. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire from young people (811), aged 15-24 years, affiliated to the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church and the Assemblies of God. The majority of participants perceived themselves at risk of HIV infection (53 %). Premarital sexual abstinence was the most frequently (88 %) reported prevention message, followed by faithfulness (23 %), HIV testing (18 %) and condom use (17 %). Furthermore, religious affiliation was associated with education on sexuality and HIV in youth groups, with better information given to members of the Lutheran and Catholic churches. Faith communities need to strengthen their capacity to educate young people in a more holistic way about sexuality and HIV prevention.

Since religious messages on life style have a strong impact in South Africa, it is important to assess how they relate to the situation for young people at risk of HIV infection. Nine focus group discussions were conducted with youth (n=62), aged 13–20 years, from the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, and the Assemblies of God. Young people were ambivalent toward sexual contacts since these generally were expected to be part of a relationship even though the church condemns premarital sex. Girls perceived the moral norms to concern them more than the boys for whom sexual needs were more accepted. These moral barriers lead to lack of information about protection and may increase the risk of HIV. The realities young people facing should be a major concern for the faith communities.

A series of semi-structured interviews on HIV prevention were conducted with South African clergy with pastoral and liturgical responsibilities from the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church and the Assemblies of God. The interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed by interpretive descriptive analysis. Three themes indicative of church leaders' approach to HIV prevention among youth emerged: dilemmas in breaking the silence on HIV and AIDS; ambivalent HIV-prevention messages from church leaders to young people; and gender differences in HIV-prevention messages. While church leaders had taken steps to overcome the stigma, the dilemmas of balancing theological understanding with resistance from their congregations presented a complex scenario. Ambivalence to HIV prevention concerned whose responsibility it was to educate young people about HIV; talking about sexuality in public; pre-marital abstinence and condom use; and resistance from congregation members towards HIV prevention. Finally, findings indicated a discrepancy between church leaders' belief in gender equality and the HIV-prevention messages they verbalised, which appears to burden girls.