12 Sep 2024

Government continues to improve the country’s health system through provision of tailor-made services for adolescents with an appropriate setting where their unique physical, psychological, emotional development and health service needs are met.

Speaking during Tsabong Clinic Youth Friendly Services activation ceremony in which youth were introduced to the clinic, Tsabong District Health Management Team’s principal registered nurse, Ms Nelly Maruru said the objective was to reduce behavioural risks amongst vulnerable and at-risk young people in terms of susceptibility to HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections, substance abuse, and unwanted pregnancies through improvement of access to quality and friendly services.

Ms Maruru said there was an increase in teenage pregnancy where 19 per cent of females who had registered to receive ante-natal care throughout the district were teenagers, which she noted was a concern as most of them were out of school youth aged 16 to 19 years.

She said in the past week health workers carried out a community outreach project, where they encouraged use of contraceptives, adding that the campaign was targeted at reducing chances of unwanted pregnancies through education and introducing the youth to the underutilized facility.

The principal nurse said that one of the major concerns was that teenage pregnancy could cause complications, adding that their bodies were not yet developed to carry babies, so much so that the pregnancies could lead to maternal mortalities and morbidities.

He said the campaign was targeted at encouraging the youth to gain understanding on family planning and make use of Youth Friendly Services (YFS).

In Botswana, she said, YFS was established in 2003 and continued to be improved over the years, incorporating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) goal No.3; Health for

All and goal No.5; Achieving Gender Equality and Empower Women and Girls Through Ending Gender Based Violence (GBV).

She highlighted that the youth aged between 10 and 24 years constituted 13.5 per cent of the population and needed YFS. She highlighted that the group members were transitioning to adulthood, therefore needed to avoid the risks which could leave permanent scars in their lives hence the need for YFS.

Furthermore, Ms Maruru buttressed that SDG No.5 addressed GBV, which included protecting and securing children from GBV and eliminating it as it could potentially cause trauma to the youth, which trauma could have adverse psychological and physical health implications.

Tsabong Clinic YFS offers counselling services to youth affected by GBV and performs HIV testing and counselling as well as general consultations.

She said at the clinic the youth were at liberty to get information and access healthcare, encouraging them to utilise the clinic, whose personnel had been trained to deal with young people, adding that some of the nurses were youthful and therefore would easily relate with them.

For her part, a youth representative, Ms Oratile Chabaesele recommended that the youth make use of the YFS healthcare services, which she said eased her teenage pregnancy through the necessary support.

She said she discovered as a teenager that she had contracted HIV and she benefited from the immense support of the youth friendly clinic staff, adding that they were there for her while she was going through a rough patch. Having benefited from such services, she noticed benevolence in service providers and thus encouraged the youth to make use of the services.

Tsabong North councillor, Mr Kabelo Coetzee appreciated the DHMT for bringing young people together and taking responsibility to introduce them to the Tsabong Clinic YFS, which was recently opened by Vice President Slumber Tsogwane. He told the youth that the facility was opened for them and therefore they must make use of it.

He encouraged them to be cognisant of the mindset change campaign and apply it on a day to day basis to transform their lives. He highlighted that the youth who were present during the launch of Tsabong Clinic YFS must spread news about the clinic and use digital technology to get their peers to also benefit from the services. ENDS