Job Summit

All to often, job creation projects waste money. However, if a community worker saves the HIV infection of one trained, young worker, or prevents one unwanted birth during a year's work, he or she has more than earned a year's salary (not to mention the prevention of human suffering).  In practice, community workers are likely to have many such successes and earn their keep many times over.

SAPLER has not had any response to this proposal, but we are not giving up.

Job Summit Proposal: Reduction in HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancy by community workers providing sexuality education and healthcare in schools

HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancy

60% of HIV infection happens to people under 25, particularly to young girls. Teenage pregnancy is a major component of abortions and unwanted births. An estimated 11% of girls aged 15-19 years fall pregnant each year in South Africa.

The human cost of blighted life chances and burdens on individuals, families and communities engendered by AIDS deaths and unwanted births is severe. The population is increasing by 720 000 per year, there are already many orphans and the government struggles to fulfill development goals.

Current sexuality-education

A life-skills curriculum, including sexuality education, has been developed and many guidance teachers throughout the country have been trained to teach life-skills. However, the curriculum is not an exam subject, the guidance teacher has exam subjects to teach, and sexuality education cuts across the traditional division between teacher and pupil.

Community worker sexuality education

Young people from the community, with basic training, have proved effective as full-time sex-educators in middle and high schools. They have a responsible and an enjoyable job as a junior member of a local elite. The guidance teacher is largely relieved of work that she does not enjoy and does not in fact do. The pupils interact freely and honestly on the dangers of sexually transmitted disease, teenage pregnancy and unwise relationships.

School district sexual healthcare teams

Schools should provide contraception for sexually active schoolgirls because clinics are often out of the girls’ way, over-burdened, disapproving or unable to protect privacy. Community health workers, working under the supervision of a professional nurse, can service all the schools in a school district. Outside of school hours, they can deliver family planning, care for pregnant women, mother and child care and reach out-of-school youth.

Cost effective jobs

The accompanying tables of the cost of school health team and the cost of preventing a schoolgirl pregnancy illustrate that if only one teenage pregnancy is prevented at a school by the sex educator and reproductive heath team during a year, the social investment is recouped over the next 18 years just by savings in child support, health and education. However, if 30 pregnancies are prevented, the social investment is more than recouped every year for the next 18 years. Similar calculations can be made about AIDS deaths of workers and parents.

Most middle and high schools have high STD, HIV/AIDS and pregnancy rates. Cost effective, empowering jobs as community sex educators and community health workers can relieve distress and meet development needs. The jobs could be provided by NGO’s and CBO’s, working as partners with school and health districts.

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