In South Africa, STI /Condom Week is observed annually during the month of February. Condom week aims to raise sexual and reproductive health and promote healthy lifestyles. With the high rates of teenage pregnancy in the area, it is important to raise awareness about all kinds of sexually transmitted infections (STI’s), including HIV and promote condom use as a prevention method. In preparation for this week, King’s Hope partnered with two local organisations, namely; Msamu and Cosup in a door to door awareness campaign with the youth as the target group.
This initiative aims to educate, empower and engage the youth in meaningful discussions around their health options. Given the negative health and social impact of STI’s and teenage pregnancy on the youth, the team focused on offering both the youth and adolescents in the hair salons correct information on STI’s to help them understand and take responsibility for their sexuality while reducing the rate of unwanted pregnancies.
Our call was simple, use condoms to avoid negative health effects of sexually transmitted diseases such as vulnerability to diseases and possible infertility. The door to door campaign was received well by the youth.