In short 12-minute inserts, Siyayinqoba, a television documentary series, helps young women claim their spaces by telling their own stories to other young women. Using popular media such as television and social media outreach, the programme makes substantial gains in the fight to give South Africa’s youth enough information to make informed decisions about their health rights. South Africa has one of the highest HIV rates in the world and the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province has the highest concentration of HIV in the country. It continues to record consistently high prevalence of the HIV in the age cohort of 15-49 years. Rising HIV rates are attributed to declining knowledge as well as an increase in risky sexual behaviour.

Research shows that young women have a disproportionate risk compared to their male peers with adolescent girls ages 15-19 eight times more likely to be infected with HIV. Young women ages 20-24 are more than three times likely to be infected with HIV than their male peers. Young women’s risk for HIV is further exacerbated by high rates of violence against women as well as rape, income and gender inequalities and other harmful cultural practices that target women. Siyayinqoba is a media product of the Community Media Trust (CMT) which promotes knowledge, transparency, accountability and democracy through the production of multiple forms of media, training and communication “in order to capacitate communities to improve their quality of life in South Africa”.

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Read the entire Grantee highlight here: CMT Grantee Highlight