Tadiwanashe Burukai
Done a lot of advocacy and programming activities, focal group discussions ,one on one session,involved in mass campaigns and marches asserting for family planning services i have also worked closely with the community and the female students in empowering them about abstinence,contraceptives and dual protection.as i student i have personal experience i relate to other students as i have also gone through some of the challenges.my most greatest achievement is the establishment of a resource center on our campus, which fills in the gap that existed between the students and clinic.The resource center acts as a hub of information for students,has a youth friendly center with the assistance from the health service department on campus which provides accessible health services and provisions
i come from a mining community which has a high rate of teenage pregnancy,thus a friend of mine got pregnant at a young age. thus i realized that there was a cultural gap of information dissemination and also service provision of family planning services to young sexual active women and girls.thus i joined peer education work to ensure that no pregnancy was unplanned and that everyone has the rightful information and knows were to access health services and provisions when needed or required.
it was the engagement of religious leaders to work with us,some sectors don't align to use of family planning provisions.resulting in early child marriage and teenage pregnancies.it was a community issue which was sensitive thus engaged Councillors ,local authorities,the religious leaders did a training with stakeholders.this setup a platform for open discussion,assisted in resolving the issue.at present there has been an increase in uptake of family planning provisions by all religious sectors
my community biggest challenge is the consistent use of dual protection. it has been noted that people are biased to either condoms or contraceptives and not both. this can be noted by the high HIV/STI prevalence rate and also by unplanned pregnancies.i believe continual training's, group discussion, campaigns and educational sessions can be fruitful especially at schools and religious gatherings. also inclusion of the male voice instead of the females due to the cultural nature of the community
i want to be able to provide a safe, liberal and supportive community which provides youth friendly services to community clinics and centers. Our statistical records show that Zimbabwe has a high youth population and that HIV/AIDS and STI's are prevalent around this age group. cause has also been due to health service providers who are not youth friendly.thus i believe engagement with this age group and provision of services that is tailor made for them will contribute to an HIV free generation
