…plagued by unwanted pregnancies
President Jacob Zuma and Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi
QWA QWA –Traditional leaders and teachers’ representatives have hailed the introduction of the integrated health pilot programme in schools saying that it will save a nation plagued by unwanted teenage pregnancies and HIV/Aids.
The Integrated School Health Programme, launched by President Jacob Zuma in Cullinan last week, will allow pupils to access a variety of health services.
“Our children become sexually active while still at school whether we like it or not, we cannot stop them.But what we can do is to save those who are already sexually active,” leader of traditional healers in the Eastern Free State Meshack Mokekola said.
“Use of condoms will at least prevent transmission of sexual diseases including HIV and Aids. I fully support this initiative and while we mustencourage our children to abstain that alone is not saving thenation.”
Mokekola said people should not be afraid to give children condoms. “We should not be shy to protect our children. Children of thisgeneration live a modern life that is very different from how we usedto live. They need a dynamic approach, Mokekola added. SA Democratic Teachers Union general secretary Mugwena Maluleke saidthe union’s members would be available to offer “any form ofassistance” to the roll out programme. But Simon Chills of the Apostolic Church said that the move would makechildren go astray, especially if they knew they areprotected from pregnancy.
“Children must be encouraged to behave and wait until they are marriedor old enough to take care of themselves,” he said.
Roman Catholics are campaigning against the use of contraceptives. National Congress of School Governing Bodies secretary-general Nonokoane Hlobo said: “We are happy that this programme will cover the barriers to learning, information and counselling, on-site service provision, health promotion and environmental assessment of school”.
During the launch, President Zuma said an estimated 75 percent of learners who became pregnant left school and onlybetween a third and a half of these resume school. Equipping girls andboys with information on how to prevent unwanted pregnancies can play an important role in ensuring that all learners reach their full potential.
“It is almost always the girl child who has to deal with the stigma and other negative consequences of the pregnancy,” Zuma said.
“We know that this subject makes parents uncomfortable. But we have to face the reality that some learners are sexually active, no matter how much this knowledge distresses us as parents.”
To deal with this reality and promote primary health care, the school health nurse and team will provide sexual and reproductive health services including contraception as well as HIV counselling and testing, where appropriate, he said.
According to a report by the CEO of NAPTOSA in Free State and Northern Cape some of the learners failed to matriculate because they were in labour and had wasted twelve years of education.
The new integrated school health programme, which is one of the three streams of South Africa’s primary health care system, aims to strengthen and expand existing school health services beyond screening and referral. The programme will provide a comprehensive health package to improve the health of school-going children and remove health barriers to learning at every stage of their development.
In addition to receiving health and life skills education, every learner will be assessed by professional health workers at least once during each of the four educational phases to identify children who suffer from, or are at risk for, long-term health and psychosocial conditions.
School children in ten pilot areas will get a comprehensive health plan, under the aegis of the National Health Insurance (NHI). Thabo Mofutsanyana in Free State is one of the pilot districts. The move had also been supported by some of the parents.
Mokete Motjeku, who has two sons and a daughter said with this programme learners’ health would be monitored time and again and surprises like teenage pregnancy and spread of HIV/Aids will be minimised.
Mamoitheri Mokete said as a single mother of a son and a daughter it was easier for her to discuss issues relating to sex with her daughter than her son and saw the initiative as an intervention which will equip both her children with survival skills. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also welcomed the adoption of the programme “Based on international experience, we know that successful roll out of the integrated school health package will require close collaboration between various sectors – education, health and social development,” said UNICEF Representative Aida Girma.
The new policy also calls for the active involvement of school governing bodies and community leaders, such as traditional and faith-based leaders and ward councillors. The participation of learners through student representative councils and school clubs such
as the Girls and Boys Education Movement (GEM/BEM) clubs will be critical to expand the reach of the programme.
“Learners can act as health promoters and change agents among their peers, families and the broader community – amplifying the impact beyond the school environment,” said Girma.
Each pupil will be assessed individually once in each phase by a school health team that will be led by a professional nurse.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said mobile units for the pilot phase of the school health programme would be distributed to 10 districts where the NHI system was also being piloted. “NHI is the re-engineering of primary health care – it focuses on preventive measures. Presently, our health system is a curative model, where we wait for people to get sick. There are 12 million pupils. We can’t wait for them to get sick and o then take them to hospital. We want them to get the help in school,” said Motsoaledi.