In order to prevent HIV, early and unwanted pregnancies (EUP), and gender-based violence (GBV), young people must have access to sexuality education and sexual reproductive health rights.
Motshekga further stated that preventing these vulnerabilities among young learners will benefit country's plans in advancing youth development agendas.
The Minister was speaking at the UNESCO Our Rights, Our Lives, and Our Future (O3) and O3 plus 2021 Annual Review and Partners' Meeting, where she gave the opening address on Wednesday.
The gathering was aimed at reviewing progress from the 33 programme countries in the Eastern and Southern Africa and West-Central Africa.
The O3 programme promotes the provision of high-quality comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) that empowers adolescents and young people (AYP) while developing the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and competencies necessary for HIV prevention, EUP reduction, and GBV elimination.
The O3 programme is managed in collaboration with education ministries in each of the 33 countries where it is implemented. The governments of Sweden, Ireland, Norway, and France, as well as the Packard Foundation, have generously supported it.
Minister Motshekga went on to say that prevention will help to achieve the following goals:
- Goals 3, 4, and 5 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals;
- Regional pledges such as the Eastern and Southern Africa and West Central Africa Commitments
- The African Union Action Plan and the Southern Africa Development Community Strategy for Sexual Reproductive Health, among others.
It is significant that we are here to review, reflect on how the Our Rights, Our Lives, Our Future Programme has contributed to the promotion of the rights of young people to education, health and wellbeing in our respective countries in the last five years.
The Minister went onto remind those in attendance of how the programme has aided its efforts to ensure that all adolescents and young people have access to sexuality education and reproductive health rights,
Education, according to Motshekga, is a protective factor, as data has shown, particularly in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences.
The Minister also expressed gratitude to UNESCO for supporting South Africa through this programme.
However, despite all the progress made so far, she also pointed out that the programme has also endured it’s fair share of challenges, which include those listed below:
- New HIV infections are reported to be at about 1 300 per week among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) specifically;
- Concerning numbers of births among adolescent girls, with 132 000 deliveries reported by the Health Department by young girls between ages of 10 and 19 in 2021 alone;
- Gender-Based violence against children having risen during Covid-19 lockdown, with the President calling it a second pandemic.
Motshekga also shared the extent of the progress made by the programme which includes the following:
The DBE Policy on HIV, STIs, and Tuberculosis Prevention (2017) has been updated to improve the implementation of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in schools with links to sexual reproductive health services (SRHS).
She said that as a result of this, the Scripted Lesson Plans (SLPs) for CSE have been developed and are now being used in schools in Life Orientation and Life Skills Subjects.
Though much has been achieved, the Minister said that challenges continue to exist, thus as they review progress, the country also looks forward to learning from other countries.
