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Developing Young Leaders in South
Africa
Current approaches to disseminating information to young people in South
Africa about reproductive health and HIV transmission prevention are not
working. More than one-third of the country’s young women are becoming
pregnant as teenagers, 17 percent of 15 to 24-year-old females are
living with HIV (versus 4 percent of males in the same age group), and
the ratio of new HIV infections among young people is running
eight-to-one female-to-male.
To help reverse these trends, the Population Council is partnering with
local civil society organizations and researchers in South Africa in a
program that builds social networks and support and provides information
and skills for better reproductive and sexual health; HIV prevention,
treatment, and care; and the exercise of individual economic, social,
and civil rights. The program format is designed to be relevant to
adolescents’ needs and interests. The evidence so far suggests that
young people accept key health messages more frequently when they are
combined with activities such as interactive skills building and
discussion of how social and economic vulnerabilities relate to health
behaviors. All of the program activities are geared toward building
critical skills for accessing and using information important to young
people’s future well-being. Council researchers are now seeking funding
to replicate this approach in a program targeted to 16 to 18-year-olds,
encouraging the graduates of the first program to lead the second.
Ample evidence shows that the program will succeed in appealing to the
targeted group. Younger siblings and friends of the pilot-program
participants, who wanted the information and skills the program offers,
began meeting on their own after school and on weekends. Program staff
took on the extra work of mentoring these younger “participants” because
of their enthusiasm and self-motivation.(Return to issue contents)
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