Durban - It’s all about making good decisions about sexual health and rights. That’s the goal of Dlalanathi, a non-profit organisation which has partnered with South African-born Hollywood legend and UN Messenger of Peace Charlize Theron.
The Oscar-winner was in Pietermaritzburg this week to spend time with some of the young women helped by her organisation, the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project.
With 15- to 24-year-olds identified at the centre of the HIV/Aids pandemic, Theron started her organisation in 2007 to help youth keep themselves and their peers safe from HIV/Aids.
“Today’s youth remain one of the most affected demographics as they face a number of challenges that inhibit their ability to protect themselves from the virus,” said Theron.
“The young people I meet are inspirational. They are driven, resourceful and want to be heard. We must bring them into the room and into the conversation.”
Describing the scourge as “not over - not even close”, Theron said “it remains a threat to the lives of children and young people, and more complacency threatens the lives of our young people - we need to act.
“We hope that we can have an impact by continuing to support our programme partners who do great work because they really listen to and engage with their communities.”
Fourteen-year-old Thobeka (surname withheld) who
took part in a workshop on sexual health through Dlalanathi’s Youth in Action programme, said: “My future is in my hands, I own my future and this depends on the decision that I make today about my sexual health. My education depends on this important decision.”
She said she was outspoken on the matter both at school and at home, even though her mother said “these were
conversations she should be having at school with her teacher”.
But Thobeka persisted, saying it was important to share the information in her family and among her peers.
Rachel Rozentals-Thresher, dlalanathi chief executive, said: “Our work aims to reduce the prevalence of HIV infection and unplanned pregnancy among vulnerable youth by empowering them to make healthy decisions for themselves. This makes our partnership with the project a natural fit.”
In November 2017, UNAids announced that even though remarkable progress had been made in HIV treatment worldwide, the challenge was replicating that impact among children and adolescents.
If trends persist, 2030 will see 3.5million new adolescent HIV infections, or nearly 300000 a year, according to projections from the 2017 Unicef Statistical Update on Children and Aids Research. Progress in preventing new infections among adolescents - and improving testing and treatment among adolescents - has been too slow.
In 2016, 55000 adolescents aged 10-19 died from Aids-related causes, with 90% of them being in sub-Saharan Africa. For every five adolescent boys living with HIV, there were seven girls with HIV in the same age group.