‘loveLife needs more support to reach youths’
THE loveLife initiative needed more support from the private sector as it sought to help reduce the infection rate of HIV in youths by 30% through various initiatives, Deputy Minister of Health Joe Phaahla said yesterday.
At a fund-raising breakfast at the Houghton Golf Club in Johannesburg, Phaahla said young people faced many challenges. “Adolescent girls and young girls experienced the highest rate of HIV infection. Even though a lot has been done, only 30% have been touched with relevant services.”
He said almost 2 000 females between the ages of 15-24 were infected each week in South Africa.
“loveLife has been able to train young people and be innovative in making sure that they meet the needs of young people.”
Phaahla called on the private sector to assist, as the government could not do everything on its own.
During a discussion panel, Phaahla said times had changed and technology had both a positive and a negative effect on the youth. “We have this magnificent opportunity through technology but we also have this destructive nature as well.”
He said technology had made it easier for young people to access adult content like pornography.
Deputy Minister of Sports and Recreation Gert Oosthuizen said an agreement had been reached and would be signed to make school sports compulsory in all schools, in a partnership with loveLife. He said the healthy kids campaign showed a high rate of osteoporosis from the age of 11 because of inactivity.
“The youth camps are hosted for a period of two weeks. Our collaboration with loveLife and other stakeholders is important, let’s all play a role,” Oosthuizen said.
“We are faced with a challenge of apartheid, we are rolling out multipurpose sports and play parks.”
Both deputy ministers stressed that it was up to everyone, not just the government, to fight the spread and infection of HIV/Aids and being active in the youth.
loveLife chairperson Moss Mashishi said the nation was in crisis and that young people felt marginalised and lived lifestyles of hopelessness and no future, which was what drove the existence of loveLife. loveLife reaches 1.5 million young people in South Africa. – African News Agency (ANA)