The City of Cape Town’s Health Directorate fully supports the United Nations (UN) decision to put teenage girls in the spotlight on World Population Day which is being commemorated today, Monday 11 July 2016.

The theme is “Investing in Teenage Girls” and underscores the importance of ensuring that young women are empowered, have access to opportunities and are able to be make independent choices.

City Health is acutely aware that good health and access to services are crucial to help young women on the road to success. This includes access to reproductive health education and quality care, in an environment that is responsive and attuned to the needs of young people. 

For instance, educating them on wellness and encouraging them to make choices that will prevent HIV, tuberculosis and non-communicable diseases, like hypertension and diabetes are important tools to assist young people. 

Adolescents need assistance with their journey through puberty. The media landscape is awash with tales of young girls missing out on significant time at school as a result of being inadequately prepared for their menstrual cycle. Some even drop out because of a lack of access to sanitary pads. While it is not our core function, City Health has been involved in pilot projects, in partnership with some non-governmental organisations, to enable young girls who are starting their menstrual cycle to receive reusable pads.

In Cape Town, the rate of babies being born to mothers under the age of 18 has declined consistently in the last decade, accounting for fewer than 4% of live births recorded in 2015. This is to be applauded as an indication that reproductive health education and access to services are having an effect. However, this percentage still equates to a very large number of babies who will not grow and develop under the best conditions. 

According to the South African Constitution, women have the right to terminate a pregnancy without putting their lives in danger. Some local health facilities offer this service but this is a hugely emotive issue and the fear of being judged still fuels the proliferation of illegal abortions. 

Our City Health staff are equipped to assist young girls with making the best choices to protect themselves and those around them. The biggest stumbling blocks, among staff and in our communities are, however, caused by judgemental attitudes and discrimination. This discourages young people from taking up the services that are on offer. 

We cannot continue to allow young people to have unprotected sex because they fear the attitudes of their elders or of the staff at their local clinic. 

We cannot continue to allow a situation where young women live in ignorance about the choices that are available to them especially when health promotion officers are available to engage with them at school. 

We cannot allow young women to submit to unprotected sex because they are painted into a corner by prevailing patriarchal attitudes.

The continued vulnerability of young women have been amplified this week by the release of statistics indicating that young women aged between 15 and 24 have the highest HIV infection rate in the country, with nearly 2 000 new infections being reported every week. In the last decade we have made significant progress in slowing down the spread of HIV: so it is of concern that young women continue to be this vulnerable to a preventable disease when education and methods for prevention are freely available. 

Without strong support to the young women and explicit societal disapproval of 'sugar daddies' (or ‘blessers’, as they ironically have become known in recent times) gains that have been made, will be lost. Unprotected transactional sex is short-sighted, counter-productive, and robs women of the opportunity to invest in their future.

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