In an open letter to young women in South Africa, Faith Fikizolo reminds us that meaningful comprehensive sex education is an important lever in ensuring girls and young women are fully empowered to exercise their sexual and reproductive health rights. She argues that, due to the lack of meaningful sexuality education, many South African young women and girls lack bodily autonomy.
On 17 February, Deputy Health Minister Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo led a march against unsafe abortions in Rustenburg, North West, but a march alone cannot eliminate barriers that prevent women and girls from accessing safe abortions in the public health system. Much more is needed, argue Sibusiwe Ndlela, Khanyisa Mapipa and Thokozile Mtsolongo in an open letter.
As we commemorate yet another Women’s Month, we are reminded of the many initiatives that have come and gone in an attempt to address the extreme period poverty that continues to plague South African women and girls. It is time to solve this issue once and for all, and to make sanitary towels and menstrual hygiene products free and readily available, writes René Sparks.
As much as 20% of births in South Africa are the result of unplanned or unintended pregnancies. One way to reduce the rate of unintended pregnancies is for men who do not wish to have children to undergo male sterilisation in the form of vasectomy. Siyabonga Kamnqa asks how easy it is to get a vasectomy in South Africa and why relatively few men opt for this form of contraception.
