{"id":8046,"date":"2015-08-31T13:39:03","date_gmt":"2015-08-31T13:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=8046"},"modified":"2015-08-31T13:39:03","modified_gmt":"2015-08-31T13:39:03","slug":"satisfying-youths-quest-for-sexuality-openness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2015\/08\/31\/satisfying-youths-quest-for-sexuality-openness\/","title":{"rendered":"Satisfying youths\u2019 quest for sexuality openness"},"content":{"rendered":"

In most African societies, talking about Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) openly to the youth is taboo. JOSEPHINE CHINELE tells how this secrecy is exposing young people to pregnancies, STIs and HIV.<\/strong><\/p>\n

OBVIOUSLY a wedding is highly treasured and any news threatening its cancellation is a disappointment for the bride and the groom\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

But Farai, a Zambian citizen, swallowed this bitter pill when she tested HIV positive two months to her wedding.<\/p>\n

The husband-to-be first accepted to proceed with the plans but later decided otherwise and dumped her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was hurtful but I eventually accepted it. I suspect that it\u2019s my ex-boyfriend that infected me. He broke my virginity and he was the only person I had sex with then,\u201d tells Farai.<\/p>\n

The relationship with this ex-boyfriend began in her late teens.<\/p>\n

She learnt later he had a string of girlfriends but could not end the relationship.<\/p>\n

Her grandmother had earlier advised that according to their culture, the man who breaks one\u2019s virginity is for marriage.<\/p>\n

But the relationship eventually ended, the boyfriend showed no signs of settling down, she says.<\/p>\n

Farai later went into another relationship. She had never tested for HIV but insisted that they should go for testing before getting married.<\/p>\n

She tested positive while the fianc\u00e9 tested negative. After days of inner struggle for a lifetime decision, the wedding was called off.<\/p>\n

Eighteen years later, Farai admits to have had little information about Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH), HIV and comprehensive sexuality in her adolescent years attributing this to why she got infected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never discussed anything to do with sexuality with my mother or anyone after the initiation ceremony when I began menstruating. Otherwise I was just learning things on my own from friends,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Though she lives in Zambia, young people in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) including Malawi are facing similar challenges.<\/p>\n

Eighteen year old Elizabeth of Mangochi also encountered a similar experience as she contracted HIV from a fisherman 12 years older than her.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told me he was divorcing his wife to marry me; so there was no need for us to use a condom,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

But when she got pregnant, the man refused responsibility.<\/p>\n

On her first antenatal visit at five months, she was diagnosed with HIV.<\/p>\n

She too says she did not have much information about sexuality, contraceptives and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) or where to go to access SRH services.<\/p>\n

Young People today website reveals that 50 young people of ESA region are infected with HIV per hour translating to 430,000 young people getting infected per year.<\/p>\n

The website also says young women like Farai and Elizabeth are still disproportionately affected compared to young men<\/p>\n

It states that HIV knowledge levels among young people in the region remains below 40 per cent.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth and Farai says they have been highly discriminated against among their relations and at health facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople had concluded that I contracted HIV because I was promiscuous. At one point, a service provider curiously asked where I contracted the virus from,\u201d says Elizabeth who miscarried at six months due to suspected stress.<\/p>\n

For Farai, the cancellation of the wedding due to her HIV status was a source of humiliation and discrimination in all aspects.<\/p>\n

A United Nations E d u c a t i o n a l , Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (Unesco – 2013) summary report titled \u2018Why adolescents and young people need comprehensive sexuality education and SRH services in ESA\u2019 says among other practices, early sexual debut and child marriage (in adolescent girls), high school dropout rates, low transition to secondary school, age disparate and transactional sex combine to impact heavily on young people.<\/p>\n

The report also notes that majority of young people in the region do not to access modern forms of contraception, condoms, safe abortion, STI\/HIV testing and counselling or HIV treatment.<\/p>\n

It suggests the need to review inconsistencies in policy or legislation which will reduce many of the barriers and provide a clear framework for health providers to receive adolescent and young clients, according to their need and based on good public health policy.<\/p>\n

Youth Friendly Health Services (YFHS) are those that specifically seek to be always open, suitable to youths, and are located in places where young people feel safe and comfortable to access health services.<\/p>\n

\u201c…. Young clients should not face judgement or stigma from staff, and they should be able to trust that their confidentiality will be respected,\u201d reads the summary report in part.<\/p>\n

The report highlights that any service that is not catering to their particular needs or taking steps to ensure that the service is accessible is missing a large and critical segment of the population.<\/p>\n

According to Population Reference Bureau (PRB) Malawi Youth Data Sheet (2014), more than one in four adolescent boys have had sex before age 15, twice as many as adolescent girls.<\/p>\n

The Data Sheet suggests that providing family planning to young people reduces the risk of disease and unintended pregnancy, and promotes a healthy transition to adulthood.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the high prevalence of HIV, it is important to reach young people with information about how to avoid infection,\u201d it reads in part.<\/p>\n

Due to sustained high fertility in the last 20 years, the age structure of Malawi\u2019s population is extremely youthful.<\/p>\n

Government says health and development experts in Malawi recognise that 66 per cent of Malawi\u2019s population is under 25 years of age and the country presently registers a high number of adolescent pregnancies and high STI\/HIV incidences among them.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, the recently launched first ever YFHS strategy (2015- 2020) in Malawi will help address the said issues and provide the nation with a healthy generation.<\/p>\n

The YFHS was launched on August 26, 2015, with support from United States Agency for International Development (Usaid) through Health Policy Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis strategy was developed through a significant stakeholder consultative process and is based on the most up to date evidence available. This includes findings from a YFHS evaluation and study that was conducted in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs such, this multi-sectoral strategy is expected to contribute to the country\u2019s response to providing high-quality, integrated services that are relevant, accessible, attractive, affordable, appropriate and acceptable to the youth,\u201d reads a press statement from the ministry published in The Daily Times on the day of the launch.<\/p>\n

The Ministry of Health says the strategy seeks to increase knowledge, access and utilisation of YFHS for all young people aged 10- 24 years.<\/p>\n

The report highlights that any service that is not catering to their particular needs or taking steps to ensure that the service is accessible is missing a large and critical segment of the population.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In most African societies, talking about Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) openly to the youth is taboo. JOSEPHINE CHINELE tells how this secrecy is exposing young people to pregnancies, STIs and HIV. OBVIOUSLY a wedding is highly treasured and any news threatening its cancellation is a disappointment for the bride and the groom\u2019s family. But Farai, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8046"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8048,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8046\/revisions\/8048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}