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I will find the best method that will work for me: Navigating contraceptive journeys amongst South African adolescent girls and young women

South Africa has one of the highest rates of pregnancy amongst adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) globally

Pregnancy prevention involves an on-going continuum of decision-making around contraceptive method choice, uptake, use, experience, continuation, and discontinuation.

This paper presents analysis of data from a cross-sectional survey with 2376 AGYW, as well as qualitative in-depth interviews (IDIs) with 54 AGYW

SAMRC UHC/NHI Forum: The Unit of Evidence and Deliberation for Decision Making -a responsive service to strengthen evidence-informed decision making in Colombia

The SAMRC UHC/NHI Forum is an open meeting for those interested in developments, learning and plans related to the Universal Health Coverage and the National Health Insurance in South Africa and globally.

SAMRC UHC/NHI Forum: Power and policy-making process in a health system

The SAMRC UHC/NHI Forum is an open meeting for those interested in developments, learning and plans related to the Universal Health Coverage and the National Health Insurance in South Africa and globally.

This webinar covered policy-making processes within a health system and how policy actors use their power within context to influence policy change. We will discuss empirical evidence of how various policy actors used their sources of power to effect change within a health system.

Quarterly Outputs Report

The HERStory Series: “We can’t share things with our teachers”: narratives of mistrust and disconnect between South African female learners and their teachers

Summary  

  • Teacher connectedness – the level of connectedness between students and their teachers – can have a strong impact on the learning experience, and the health of students
  • The support that teachers can provide is not only academic, but can also be psychosocial or emotional support, with positive effects on students’ self-confidence and self-esteem, educational attainment, mental health and wellbeing.
  • Student-teacher relationships and connectedness can also impact the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of adolescent girls and young wome

Resource Materials

The HERStory Series: Access, use, and perceptions of contraception services among adolescent girls and young women in South Africa

Summary

  • Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) have high unmet need for contraceptives, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
  • In South Africa, about one in five women of reproductive age (15–49 years) have an unmet need for contraception, and among AGYW, there is an even higher unmet need (31%among adolescent girls aged 15-19 and 28% among young women aged 20–24 years).
  • The high unmet need for contraception among AGYW contributes to teenage pregnancy rates which are decreasing at a slower rate in South Africa compared to other developing countries.

The HERStory Series: Lessons learned from implementing a PrEP programme for adolescent girls and young women in South Africa

Summary

  • Daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly efficacious for HIV prevention.
  • Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW)  are regarded as a priority population in South Africa’s National Strategic Plan (NSP) for curbing HIV, TB and STIs: 2017–2022 and they have been prioritised for PrEP delivery in South Africa.
  • Numerous sociocultural, behavioural, structural and physiological factors contribute to the disproportionate HIV risk that AGYW in South Africa face.
  • There is an urgent need for effective female-initiated HIV prevention
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