In South Africa, one in four new HIV infections are among young women and girls aged 15 to 24. Young women and girls are at much higher risk of HIV infection than their male peers for a host of biological and social reasons, including early sexual debut and having sexual relationships with men much older than themselves that may very well also have a transactional nature. Teenage pregnancy is also high among young women between 15 and 19.
Increasingly policymakers and programme implementers are realising that more needs to be done to protect young women and girls from HIV infection.
In this context the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) held a high level meeting to discuss HIV prevention priorities for young women and girls in South Africa. The purpose of the workshop was to build consensus around a national HIV prevention implementation plan linked to the National Strategic Plan on HIV, STIs and TB, 2012–2016.
“We need to reframe the vulnerability of and crisis with young women and girls as a collective concern”, said Professor Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala, who opened the meeting. “This is our problem as society. Protecting and supporting young women is a community initiative.”
During the workshop participants broke away into groups and explored the four strategic focuses of the implementation plan in more detail: preventing early sexual debut, promoting healthy relationships, community mobilisation and what was termed ‘fuzzy concepts’, which included multiple and concurrent partnerships, transactional and age-disparate sex.
Discussion in the groups landed on the language used and messages that are conveyed by this language. Participants agreed that policymakers need to talk to target audiences in way that is understandable and appealing and use simple, straightforward terms and definitions of sometimes complex concepts. For example, multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships is a difficult concept to understand and should be broken down into different kinds of partnerships such as serial monogamy or more than one partner at a time.
There should also be recognition that communities, and even young women and girls as a group, are heterogeneous.
“We are still making the mistake of dealing with young women as a group. We need to further segment this group and have a higher impact with more intensive targeted interventions”, said Dr Fareed Abdullah, CEO of SANAC. “We need to develop a level of sophistication and understanding of the issue to do so.”
Participants agreed agreement that the whole community has a role to play, from older women as mentors, to young men, who should be encouraged to examine notions of masculinity and take responsibility for their role in relationships.
The meeting closed with the knowledge that the one-day meeting is just a start on a slow and consistent process. What was clear was that the level of expertise and knowledge in the room was a good start on which we can build a robust implementation plan targeting young women and girls and that with a flexible approach, we can better understand what works.
“We need to reframe the vulnerability of and crisis with young women and girls as a collective concern.” Professor Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala
| ZAZI – know your strength
ZAZI, a campaign aimed at women and girls was launched in 2013 under the leadership of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) Women›s Sector, with support from the USAID/ JHU HIV Communication programme and PEPFAR in partnership with the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, the Department of Health and the Department of Social Development. The ZAZI Campaign encourages women and girls to draw on their inner strength, power, and self-confidence to know themselves and what they stand
Lebogang was born in Stockholm to South African parents who were in exile from the then Apartheid government in South Africa. She is a poet, dancer, anthropologist and feminist. She is an ambassador for Zazi (‘Know your strength’), a campaign aimed at young women and girls in South Africa. “I came to Zazi from an understanding of feminist politics—that young women aren’t safe in our country, with an epidemic of gender-based violence, and that we need to empower ourselves in whatever way we can. Zazi has helped me to understand that, as young women, in intimate relationships, we need to assert ourselves, put our health first and not allow anyone else to determine our health status.” Lebohang is a prolific writer and social media junkie and active in the Johannesburg’s social landscape. “I know how youth in Johannesburg deal with HIV, because I am one of them, I am their friend.” Lebohang believes that social media among urban youth is pervasive and that certain ideals are prized among others—and that positive messages about sexual health practices are not a priority of pop culture. “They feel like they know it. They are tired of the messaging. They are therefore willing to play a game of Russian roulette.” Lebohang says that young people in Johannesburg need ‘cool’ role models to normalise the use of condoms and communicate messages about HIV that speak to them as young people. Lebohang travels to university campuses with Zonke, a female musician and a female house DJ, DJ Zinhle. There they give young people messages on HIV and family planning through fun and entertainment. They focus on inter-generational and transactional sexual relationships, which is a widespread behaviour among young women on the university campuses of South Africa. They then introduce the students to the peer educators on the campus and help them to realise that help is at hand should they need it. The message that Lebohang wants to leave young women with is, “Your life is yours.” She would like to see young women putting themselves first and making a connection between their success and their sexual health. She believes that young women learn through intimate relationships and these relationships can teach them to assert themselves and their needs. “We are all stars already. Put yourself, work hard and you will get where you want to go,” she says. |
SANAC News spoke to Lebohang Masango, 24, a ZAZI ambassador, who lives in Johannesburg