Editorial

The sexual and reproductive health needs of youth in South Africa – history in context

Bookmark and Share
Mags E Beksinska, Lavanya Pillay, Cecilia Milford, Jennifer A Smit

Abstract


Adolescence is a time of rapid changes that influence behaviour, in particular decisions to engage in risky behaviour. Eighty-eight per cent of the 1.2 billion adolescents worldwide live in developing countries where access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services that could support them are often inadequate and fragmented. South African (SA) youth continue to be vulnerable, with an HIV prevalence of 7.3% reported for 15 - 24-year-olds in 2012. SA has a statutory commitment to address these problems, so the state of youth SRH has not been ignored. Many government and non-governmental organisation (NGO) initiatives have been implemented since SA’s transition to democracy. The implementation of a school-based SRH programme provided by the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) mobile services is discussed in this issue of SAMJ.

Authors' affiliations

Mags E Beksinska, Maternal, Adolescent, and Child Health Research, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Durban, South Africa; Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

Lavanya Pillay, Maternal, Adolescent, and Child Health Research, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Durban, South Africa

Cecilia Milford, Maternal, Adolescent, and Child Health Research, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Durban, South Africa

Jennifer A Smit, Maternal, Adolescent, and Child Health Research, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Durban, South Africa; School of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

Full Text

PDF (552KB) HTML

Keywords

South African youth; Sexual and reproductive healthcare; Youth programmes

Cite this article

South African Medical Journal 2014;104(10):676-678. DOI:10.7196/SAMJ.8809

Article History

Date submitted: 2014-08-13
Date published: 2014-08-13

Article Views

Abstract views: 4375
Full text views: 14914

Comments on this article

*Read our policy for posting comments here