NU medical students promote abstinence
Source: Judith King, HIVAN Media Office
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Phambile with Abstinence!
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Students from the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine who are involved in the Crossroads Project, a faith-based HIV/AIDS youth initiative, spoke out at the launch of the Durban Christian Centre's "Abstinence Walk Challenge" on the steps of Durban's City Hall on June the 12th.
The students' message, delivered by Thandi Mahuluhulu, focused on the need for increased promotion of the "A" and "B" elements in the Department of Health's "ABC" prevention strategy. "While we know that the use of condoms is one method of lowering the rate of HIV infection," she said, "there has been disproportionate and inadequate promotion of the other two measures contained in the ABC formula - abstinence and being faithful."
She said it might be that South African society has emphasised condomisation as the primary means of practising safe sex in a quest to remain liberal in addressing issues of moral values and social behaviour. "Also, perhaps society finds it difficult to communicate the message of abstinence," she said, "but we in the Crossroads Project are committed to teaching our youth why and how they can and should abstain from sex before marriage."
The Crossroads curriculum is a youth-based programme that addresses prevention at a grassroots level, targeting teenagers before they become sexually active by instilling in them moral values and techniques for self-control and character development.
Said Thandi to a jubilant gathering of youth and onlookers at the City Hall steps: "These are the essential ingredients required to equip the younger generation for abstinence. Skills for abstinence give our youth hope and convey to them that we still believe in their ability to make the right moral decisions from an informed point of view."
"As concerned medical students," she continued, "we feel it is imperative that the government promotes projects like Crossroads in order to support the moral regeneration movement and to promote the spirit of ubuntu. We appeal to the Department of Education to introduce the Crossroads format into lifeskills curricula in schools, so that pupils can learn how to hold back when faced with sexual opportunities."
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Arthur Jokweni of the Durban Treatment Action Campaign branch with
Prof. Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala.
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The Durban Christian Centre houses the Hope Centre HIV/AIDS Clinic, a multi-functional counselling and care facility in the heart of the city's Warwick street area. The Abstinence Walk Challenge took place during the week of the 9th -14th June, starting in Port Shepstone, moving through Durban and ending in Pietermaritzburg, with sponsored youth representing the nine provinces of South Africa promoting the message of abstinence before marriage along their way.
Professor Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala, a medical anthropologist from Natal University, said that real behaviour change starts with the "A and B" of the "Abstinence, Be Faithful, Condomise" prevention formula.
"This Abstinence Walk Challenge marks the beginning of genuine commitment to social support and personal responsibility as weapons against the spread of HIV/AIDS," she told the crowd. "Go forward with strength, with hope, with blessings, and know that in abstaining, you are doing the right thing to oust this demon of HIV/AIDS among us."
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