Hitting Three Birds with One Stone: Low Cost Boarding Facilities to Address Teen Pregnancies, Early Marriages and New HIV Infections in Chimanimani Adolescent Girls

HILDER Muwani* (16) is doing Form 3 at Mhakwe Secondary school in Chimanimani. Every day, she walks 30 kilometers to and from school. She at some point contemplated moving to a bush boarding or renting a room near the school just to cut on the distance, but her parents would have none of it. They feared she would mix with the wrong crowd, fall pregnant and end up dropping out of school as has become the fate of many girls in Chimanimani. By Michael Gwarisa recently in Chimanimani The risk…

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ZNFPC, City Of Harare Use Sport To Fight GBV and HIV In Young People

IN an effort to eradicate new HIV infections, teenage pregnancies and gender-based violence (GBV) in communities, the Harare City Council in partnership with the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) have introduced youths games to keep young people engaged. By Patricia Mashiri The games include soccer, netball and traditional games such as nhodo, tsoro and other . Speaking during the games which took place in Mbare over the weekend, Mrs Calista Kaseke, Harare City Council Community Services Officer based in Mabvuku said the games are aimed at reducing idleness in…

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High HIV Incidence Among Female Youths

THERE is need to have programs targeting young women aged between 19 and 34 years particularly those at educational tertiary institutions to lower HIV Incidence rates in Zimbabwe. By Kudakwashe Pembere This emerged during an International Aids Society Harare Scientific Symposium which brought HIV experts from across the SADC region. AIDS and TB Director Dr Owen Mgurungi bemoaned the high incidence of HIV among young adolescent females. “The incidence is below point nine percent but its not homogenous. There are areas where we have high incidence. There are areas where…

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