City launches satellite clinic for youth in Belhar
11 June 2023
The clinic, the first dedicated facility of its kind in this part of the metropole, will operate on Friday afternoons – to start – with a view to expanding its service offerings over time. It is the latest in a series of youth-specific health offerings driven by City Health, and first piloted in Khayelitsha nearly 20 years ago.
'This is such a positive step forward for our efforts to provide youth-centric services in a safe environment designed specifically for our young people. City Health has made huge strides in acknowledging and working to meet the health needs of our youth, as we have seen this dedicated service take hold in all of our facilities. Over time, we hope to add dedicated spaces for youth health in every area, to encourage more young people to seek help and guidance on health issues affecting them. An important part of self-care is knowing your health status, and making informed decisions, so I want to urge our youth to fully exploit these opportunities and spaces that have been established for them,' said Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, Councillor Patricia Van der Ross.
City Health piloted youth clinics in Site B and Site C in Khayelitsha in the early 2000s in response to young people's reluctance to visit clinics where they might run into relatives or community members.Another motivating factor was the concern that they would miss out on services due to competing priorities such as school or work.
The City received ongoing support for many years from Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF). Current partners at these facilities are the Anova APACE project and New Love Life Trust.
Among the services offered to youth, aged 12 – 24, are:
- Family planning,
- STI assessment and treatment,
- Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP)
- Post –Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP)
- General HIV Care,
- TB screening and treatment,
- Management of minor ailments,
- Basic Antenatal Care services (until 36 weeks of pregnancy),
- Outreaches to schools
Today, City Health offers dedicated youth hours at all of its clinics, where these services are available to clients.
These youth clinics allow younger clients to receive dedicated and focused healthcare.
Each Sub-district also has a Youth Health Champion tasked with developing plans to better understand the challenges affecting youth healthcare, improve compassion and to encourage non-judgmental attitudes from staff towards young people.The satellite Youth Clinic in Belhar will further progress City Health's continuous goal of providing a safe place for youth to receive healthcare.
For now, the clinic will operate between 14:00 and 16:00 on Fridays, with a view to expanding its services over time.
'The idea was to get youth into the clinic, but also to provide a safe space where they can do homework and connect with each other. The vision is to have this clinic be a transversal hub for the St. Vincent community. With time, we want to involve other City departments like Recreation and Parks and the Library Service and turn this space into a fully-fledged youth centre. We encourage our community at large to utilise the space and help us turn it into a model of what can be, for other areas,' said Ward Councillor, Alderman Willie Jaftha.
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
