World Population Day, which will be celebrated on Friday, will focus on the youth of South Africa, social development minister Zola Skweyiya said on Monday.
In a statement drawn up for delivery in Johannesburg, Skweyiya said his department, in conjunction with the United Nation’s Population Fund (UNFPA) and the various provinces, decided to focus on the challenges facing the youth.
The international focus on World Population Day would be on the approximately one billion young people across the world who were faced with teenage pregnancies, illiteracy, poverty and HIV/Aids.
The slogan for the day will be ”1 000 000 000 adolescents, where is the education, where is employment, where are the services?”
Skweyiya said in the statement that young people between the ages of 14 and 35 made up 40% of the South African population. As the adolescents entered their reproductive years they were vulnerable to HIV/Aids, early pregnancies and a lack of education, job opportunities and services.
About 33% of all South African women would have been pregnant before the age of 20. This, Skweyiya said, was unacceptably high as it diverted young women from obtaining a decent education.
”Families and communities and not least organs of civil society together with government have to tackle this matter with a sense of urgency and purposeful action.”
Although the Constitution provided for adolescents to have the same rights as adults to reproductive health services, young women still found it difficult to access these services.
He said many young South Africans grew up in poverty and in spite of high educational levels, unemployment remained a major problem in the country.
”In this regard the World Population day should serve as a clarion call to all spheres of government and the private sector to work hand in hand to accelerate job creation for the youth within the context of the Growth and Development Summit in our country.”
”This is indeed a huge challenge that needs to be tackled with vigour by all sectors of our society if we are to secure our future.”
He said the international focus on adolescents tied in with the South African government’s focus on youth development.
A national programme of action would be rolled out in July to give the youth the opportunity to talk about their fears and aspirations. Imbizos would also be held with Skweyiya and provincial social development members of the executive committee.
Workshops would be held in the Eastern Cape later in the week, with conferences and imbizos in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape planned for Friday and the rest of the month. – Sapa