Sex health app for youth launched

**SAT Country Director,.Dr Mildred Mushunje**

Patricia Mashiri

The SRHR Africa Trust has launched the YouthWyze sexual reproductive health rights application that will help create convenience, understanding and demand for sexual health services among the youths.

The application has information on full SRHR package including HIV, gender-based violence, sexually transmitted infections, reproductive cancers, abortion and contraception among others. The information it offers has been by approved by the World Health Organisation.

Speaking during the launch, the SAT Country Director Dr Mildred Mushunje said her organisation’s mandate is to ensure that youths ages from 10 have got the services they need.

“As SAT, we project 10-30 years ahead; what will this age group look like? We currently know that this age group faces the most challenges in meeting their sexual reproductive health needs. There are things to do with inadequate information, inequitable gender norms. We know that if we don’t address young people’s access to health services, it has implications on their health, welfare, and this is critical for sustainable development goals 3 and 5. If you look back, you will see we have not been doing good.

“We need to ensure that young people have access to desired family planning services. It must be a choice but they must have information and we believe that investing in young people’s health and education in line with policies that we have is important as it enables productivity and economic growth. We still have challenges in accessing SRHR services. We are excited to be launching our YouthWyze which is a digital platform and we are doing this for the youth. This platform is something that we think is exciting for young people. It’s an application which is friendly to young people,” Dr Mushunje said.

She added that the application was there to strengthen the services, facilities and compliments what the government is already doing.

Meanwhile, SAT Youth Officer, Raymond Mazhambe explained how the application works and how it will help improve young people’s lives in terms of SRHR.

“It is a digital hub which has been designed to disrupt the heath delivery system for adolescents and young adults. Not disruption in a negative way. In terms of the research that we have been doing, engaging with the young people. We have seen that the kind of challenges they have been and they are still experiencing issues to do with information and education.

“Where do we get a reliable platform that will give us information about SRHR and HIV prevention and all answers to what is happening to young people’s bodies. We packaged the answers in a youth friendly application and today, we have the YouthWyze, which is basically there to provide with information, communication and credible information,” he said.

The application uses the power of modern technologies utilising the social media platforms available for example Facebook and WhatsApp. It is designed to meet the young people’s SRHR questions, HIV, body developments. It will help young people to be linked and connected to the services they need any given time.

It is an integration of behaviour change approaches. It is premised on education, counselling and communication modelling which ensures that there are referrals on any given topic.