Ipas South Africa reaches out to meet youth needs in North West Province

Trained by Ipas South Africa, peer educators in the country’s North West Province youth centers help young people understand reproductive- and sexual-health issues.

In South Africa, being a young person often means facing tremendous odds. Employment opportunities are scant, and up to 18 percent of people 15-24 are HIV positive, one of the highest infection rates in the world. With few jobs available, vulnerability to sexual- and reproductive-health problems and spotty access to social services, many South African adolescents and young adults have uncertain futures ahead.

In light of these challenges, Ipas South Africa, in partnership with the North West Province Department of Health, is working to make sure that young people have the skills and knowledge they need to be a healthy, productive part of society.

Responding to the numerous challenges facing its young population (more than 20 percent of the population is between the ages of 15 and 24), the North West Province Department of Health established youth centers in 1999 to give people ages 10-35 safe havens that offer sports and leisure activities, employment-skills training and health services.

In 2005, Ipas South Africa and the North West Department of Health conducted a study to assess the strengths and gaps in the services of five youth centers in the region.  Among the findings, the partners concluded that despite the youth centers’ initial missions of being multipurpose facilities, the centers had become de facto reproductive-health clinics, primarily serving the needs of sexually active young people who are typically isolated from such care.

During 2003-2004 (the most recent year for which statistics are available), the youth center in Matlosana, a growing city about two hours from Johannesburg, provided 12,000 clinical visits, mostly related to family planning. The same youth center also conducted testing for pregnancy and voluntary, confidential testing for HIV.

While not every youth center polled had a registered nurse on staff, three of the five were within walking distance of a primary health clinic, to which youth were often referred for help. Few had sufficient videos, brochures or other information, education and communications materials (IEC) that youth could read on site or take home.

For many of the young people who hang out at the youth center, information can come from a peer educator like 24-year-old Thabang Moroe, who works in the youth center at Matlosana.

Peer educators (PEs), who are paid a stipend, facilitate discussions about employment, healthy relationships, and sexual and reproductive health and rights. Ipas South Africa contributed to training the peer educators by conducting a module on sexual and reproductive health and rights.  Moroe, a former information technology student who had to quit his training program because he couldn’t afford the fees, knows firsthand how difficult it can be to be young and making one’s way through life in modern South Africa.

Before working as a peer educator, Moroe had little information about reproductive-health issues and even in a country where HIV/AIDS prevalence is so high, even less contact with HIV-positive people. Being a PE changed his philosophy on how to reach young people like himself with messages about sex and health.

First, Moroe said, youth need to be taught early about reproductive health. And for those who are already sexually active, his advice is to “condomize and be faithful.” Teaching youth abstinence only — an increasingly common strategy in sub-Saharan Africa and particularly in countries where U.S. funding supports AIDS prevention— is like “telling someone who has a lot of cattle not to take them out to graze,” said Moroe.

The youth centers provide a location for adolescents to get information that they probably didn’t receive at home, schools or in health services, where providers sometimes scold or judge sexually active teens. One young person who participated in the focus groups said: “We need this [youth center] because it is difficult to talk to parents. They think you are naughty when you ask many questions. Here we speak freely with people who understand us.”

Even Moroe’s parents are uncomfortable talking to his younger sister and brothers about sex and reproductive health. But change is occurring, at least in their household: Now, Moroe’s parents ask him to speak with his siblings about these sometimes difficult topics.

As part of its work with the youth centers, Ipas South Africa also provides participating youth sexual- and reproductive-health and rights training similar to that provided to peer educators; helps them develop clubs and skills based on their special interests; and guides center staff on program management. In the next phase of its youth center work, Ipas South Africa will monitor how well the centers follow the National Adolescent Friendly Clinic Initiative (NAFCI) guidelines, which mandate that clinics must guarantee adolescents and youth the rights to privacy, comprehensive and knowledgeable care, and to make free, informed choices about their sexual and reproductive health.  In addition to Ipas South Africa, other partners supporting the youth centers include the Umsobomvu Youth Fund and the Youth Development Network.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258