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Healthcare worker educates young women
Young women in Umlazi, south of Durban, are challenging other young people to show their resilience in the fight against HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs).
They were part of a campaign by non-profit-organisation, Girl Effect which aims to improve the lives of young women.
The campaign coincides with STI and Condom Week. It provides accessible health services, education, and mental wellness support to address issues around HIV.
These young women urge their peers to arm themselves with knowledge, “I feel like there’s a lack of education, there’s a lack of awareness amongst some young women.
There should be more people teaching young people about HIV, we can’t just move on with life. Young people need to understand that using condoms is helpful, we’re not saying that we shouldn’t have fun but they need to be responsible about it and be wise about it and have responsible fun.
There’s also things like pre-exposure prophylaxis (PREP) and they can also use it. We believe that after this event young girls will be more educated about social awareness and HIV and condoms and all of that. As young people we love having fun but at the same time we can be very irresponsible.
It is campaigns like this that help us to be aware of our irresponsibility. Young women need to understand the importance of condoms. Maybe government can also come in and ensure that the clinic is closer to young people.”
Rod Ndlovu of Girl Effect says statistics have shown that Umlazi has a high number of young people between the ages of 15 and 24 who are HIV positive. He says it is also a concern that many of them are also young mothers.
“It is one of many things, first of all we are targeting young vulnerable people and statistics are telling us that Umlazi is a region with a high burden of STIs and HIV issues, and high mental health issues.
The area also has high economic instability, the unemployment rate is very high within the region. We found this when we were doing our analysis and our tests. That is why this is our focus and target area, Umlazi has always been our target area based on all these things that I’ve just mentioned.”
