Adolescent health troubles in South Africa’s rural areas should be a key priority
International Health Policies (IHP) newsletter - "Growing up in a rural area is different from growing up in the cities. I was born and raised in a rural village of South Africa (SA), in Nzhelele, where life was a routine, as you saw the same people over and over again. There were two primary schools, one high school and one clinic. Living in a small village wasn’t always easy, though. I felt as though my business was the community's business - everybody knew each other. (Featured Article by Phumudzo Mufamadi)
We did not have toilets in primary school; we relied on the nearest bushes whenever we wanted to use a toilet. Due to a lack of classrooms, I attended my entire grade 7 under a tree. You might be sitting there, wondering how a 26-year-old woman has experienced this. Frankly, I did not see it as a struggle back then; we used to enjoy it, it was fun. However, this editorial won’t be about me, but about some of the more common struggles young people go through in many rural clinics of my country. Below I will focus on some typical adolescent health troubles in rural areas in SA, including those related to the social determinants of health (eg. sanitation, toilets, … ); SRHR, access to antiretroviral drugs, but also to health systems “software issues” (like lack of trust in nurses)." (Photo: Wellcome Images/flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0)