“Straight from the Class to the Labour Ward,” Teen Mom Wishes “Not In My Village Campaign” Had Visited Her Village Earlier

By Michael Gwarisa in Chiweshe She is Forget Nyamukandenga (19) from Chiweshe, Mashonaland Central. At age 17, in 2022, she was impregnated by a 24-year-old man, a development she says completely changed the course of her life. When she fell pregnant, she was doing her Upper Sixth studies in Mt Darwin and was due to write her examinations in November of the same year. Left with no option, her parents had to send her away to stay with the man responsible for her pregnancy. This period marked the genesis of…

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Zimbabwe Records Upsurge In Adolescents Booking In Antenatal Clinics

By Michael Gwarisa Adolescent pregnancy prevalence in Zimbabwe is standing at 23.7 percent, while 21 percent of Antenatal Clinic (ANC) bookings were recorded from January 2019 to December 2022 among adolescents aged 10 to 19 years, HealthTimes can reveal. The pregnancies have largely been driven by a myriad of factors, chief among them being economic-induced hardships, sexual abuse, and early exposure to pornographic and indecent online content, according to data from a National Assessment of Adolescent Pregnancies in Zimbabwe. The National assessment was conducted by the Centre for Sexual Health…

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More 10 Year Old Pregnant Girls Test Positive For HIV In Zimbabwe

More pregnant young adolescent girls aged 10 and above, are testing positive for HIV upon booking at the Antenatal Clinic (ANC), findings from a new National Assessment on Adolescent Pregnancies in Zimbabwe have shown. By Michael Gwarisa The study was conducted by the Centre for Sexual Health and HIV AIDS Research Zimbabwe (CeSHHAR) in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC), UNICEF, UNESCO and UNFPA as the lead  agency for youth and adolescents. According to the report, an estimated 1,706,946 ANC bookings were made in 1,560 health…

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Children With Disabilities Struggle To Grasp Comprehensive Sexuality Education- UNESCO Study

Delivering Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) to children with disabilities remains a challenge due to a myriad of barriers ranging from stigma attached to sexuality of young people with disabilities, a UNESCO report has gathered. By Michael Gwarisa The 2020 report was conducted in five countries in East and Southern African Region namely Zimbabwe, Zambai, Malawi, Tanzania, Eswathini and Swaziland. The study revealed that children with visual impairments were the most affected largely due to challenges related to translating material into brail. Presenting on the 2020 Study Findings on the Status…

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Zim’s National Disability Bill under review

Zimbabwe is reviewing its National Disability Bill in the bid to align it with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities the country ratified about a decade ago. By Kudakwashe Pembere This was said during a validation of the policy lab model for Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) workshop ending tomorrow. UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa Director and Representative Professor Lidia Arthur Brito said the workshop comes at the nick of time following the launch of the National Disability Policy last year which was officiated by…

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SADC Youth Helpline 393 Launched In Zimbabwe

IN a bid to bridge existing HIV information gaps and access to care for adolescents and young people, Youth Advocates Zimbabwe (YAZ), working with the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) and the National AIDS Council (NAC) have launched the SADC Youth Helpline to facilitate dialogue and openness between healthcare service providers and young people. By Michael Gwarisa The 393 Youth Helpline national contact center will be piloted in three districts in the SADC region namely, Francistown in Botswana, Zomba in Malawi and Zvishavane in Zimbabwe. The project also…

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Achieving an AIDS-free future: African leaders are championing sexuality education at the International AIDS Conference

MONTREAL, Canada, 1 August 2022 — At the 24 th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2022) held inMontreal, UNESCO and Frontline AIDS hosted a session where African leaders championed sexualityeducation and challenged misinformation to work toward an AIDS-free generation. Young advocates,representatives from African governments and CSOs made the case on why Comprehensive SexualityEducation should remain a priority for HIV prevention efforts and health and wellbeing for young peoplein Sub-Saharan Africa. “Every week, 4900 girls and women aged 15-24 in Sub-Saharan Africa acquire HIV. Each one of theseinfections could be prevented if…

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Zimbabwe Comprehensive Sexuality Education Implementers Can Ride On the Devolution Wave

IN 2013, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and other development partners under the leadership of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UESCO), initiated a process to develop a regional commitment within the East and Southern Africa region. By Michael Gwarisa In December 2013, the political process to create the commitment was met with success as 20 Member States signed onto the new East and Southern Africa (ESA) Ministerial Commitment. These Governments thus committed themselves to work together for the good of adolescents and young people to deliver comprehensive sexuality…

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UNESCO Sets Eyes on Tertiary Education Students with New O3PLUS programme

THE United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), has introduced the Our Rights, Our Lives Our Future Plus (O3 PLUS) programme, an initiative that aims to ensure young people in higher and tertiary education institutions (HTEIs) realize positive health, education, and gender equality outcomes. By Michael Gwarisa in South Africa Implementation of the O3PLUS programme follows the successful execution of the O3 programme, UNESCO’s flagship initiative which was launched three years ago. Unlike the general belief that students or learners in higher and tertiary education settings have reached the…

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O3 Annual Review Meeting kicks Off In South Africa

UNESCO’s flagship Our Rights, Our Lives, Our Future (O3) programme Annual Review Meeting (ARM)  commenced in Johannesburg , South Africa on Wednesday, May 5 2021. By Michael Gwarisa in South Africa The O3 review meeting will be running for three days where UNESCO and its partners will review O3’s transformative results focusing on children, adolescents and young people. The O3 Programme which is being run in partnership with ministries of education and health, across 33 countries in sub-Saharan Africa has already made significant strides despite its Compressive Sexuality Education (CSE)…

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