Commissioned by the Dept. of Health and Social Welfare NW Province Odi Health and Welfare District (Winterveldt Survey -Findings)
Undertaken by: AMREF (Hosted by: Sapler Population Trust)
A total of 95 youth, aged 12-19 years, and present in the household, during the time of the survey were interviewed. This included 36 males and 59 females.
Age and sex distribution
Their age and sex distribution was as shown in figure 1 below.
Figure 1 Percent age and sex distribution of the youth (scanned graph)
Level of education
The distribution of the youth by level of education attained thus far is as shown on table 18. Most (31.2%) of them had been, or were in standard 7-8. Overall, 79.6% had attained at most standard 8 level.
| Standard | No. of Youth | % |
|
1 - 2 3 - 4 5 - 6 7 - 8 9 - 10 |
6 13 26 29 19 |
6.5 14.0 27.9 31.2 20.5 |
About 38.3% of the youth indicated knowing existence of youth groups within Winterveldt. All of these belonged to at least one group. Some of the groups that members belonged to are as follows:
Other - 24.4%
The youth cited various hobbies that they possessed. Out of 1 46 responses, 33.6% were for various sports (soccer, volleyball, basketball etc) as a hobby. These was followed by Music - 23.3%, Watching T.V./Cinemas - 13.7%, Reading/writing - 11 % and Knitting and sewing - 3.4%. The rest constituted 7.5% and included hobbies like Church, Modelling, Hair dressing and beauty contests.
When asked to state the main problems that affect them. 42.7% either did not know or said they did not have any problems. The leading problem was lack of recreational facilities, mentioned by 13.2% of the youth. The other distributions are as shown in table 19 below.
| Problem | No. of youth | % |
|
None/Don't know Lack of recreational facilities Teenage pregnancy Financial STD/AIDS Rape/sexual abuse Crime Drug abuse Feel not loved by parents Conflict Unemployment Sickness Love affairs |
35 11 6 6 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 |
42.7 13.4 6.3 6.3 3.1 3.1 2.1 2.1 2.1 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 |
The youth were asked if they had ever indulged in sex. And if so, where and at what age this took place. The findings show that about 62% of the youth had indulged in sexual relationships. A quarter (24.6%) had experienced sexual intercourse before the age of 15 years. About 61 % of the first sexual encounters took place at the boy friends' place. Asked if they have ever been forced to have sex; 27.1 % of the female youth responded in affirmative and 12.5% of the male youth, also, responded positively. Figure 2 and table 20 provide further details.
|
Figure 2 Percent distribution of youth by age at onset of sex (scanned graph) |
 |
| Characteristic | % |
|
Place of first sexual intercourse: Boy friend's home/house At home (either) Bush/fields Other |
61.0 22.1 5.1 10.2 |
|
Reason for indulging in sex the first time: Experimenting Peer/group pressure Lack of knowledge Forced/raped |
27.1 6.3 4.2 4.1 |
Knowledge
The male and female youth were asked questions relating to their knowledge of contraceptives. The findings are as follows:
About 58.3% of the male youth reported that they knew what contraceptives were. Some of the contraceptives mentioned were; condom - 37%, pills - 38% and injections - 38%. The proportion of ladies who claimed to know what contraceptives were, was 79%.
Asked if they approved their partners (friends) using contraceptives, 61 % of the males answered positively while a similar proportion (6 1.5 %) of the females were positive.
Use of contraceptives
The question on use was posed to the female youth only. They were asked whether they were currently using any contraceptives. About a third (35.3%) gave a 'yes' answer. Further, 45.2% reported their boyfriends using a condom - always, while 54.8% use a condom sometimes.
Those whose boyfriends don't approve use of contraceptives gave some of the reasons as follows:
A quarter (27.3%) of the female youth reported having been pregnant once. All of them kept the pregnancy. Only 6.7% got the pregnancy while below 15 years.
The youth mentioned various measures to prevent unwanted pregnancies. The commonest was the use of contraceptives (77.4%), followed by abstinence - 1 4% and abortion - 1.1 %. The rest (7.5 %) claimed not to know.
The knowledge level for sexually transmitted diseases was measured at 72.9% of the youth. Asked to name an STD they knew; gonorrhoea was reported by 47.5% of the youth, followed by AIDS - 32.5% and Syphilis - 8.8%.
On whether STDs can be prevented, 65.9% were positive. Ways of prevention given were as follows:
STD Infection
One in ten (9.9%) of the youth reported having ever been infected by an STD. Further, 41.8% of the youth reported knowing of a friend who had, or had suffered from, an STD. On whether they were suffering from an STD now, 3.7% were positive.
The terms HIV and AIDS are usually used interchangeably by most people. The youth were asked whether they have ever heard of HIV and AIDS. About 83.1 % had heard about HIV while 87.9% had heard about AIDS.
Asked to give the meaning of HIV+ (positive); only 47.3% gave a proper and valid explanation i.e. a person with the germs that eventually cause AIDS. About a third (32.9%) of the youth admitted not knowing the meaning of HIV+.
About 1 4.1 % of the youth said they knew of a person suffering from AIDS.
Signs and symptoms of AIDS
The knowledge level on the symptoms of AIDS, as reported by the youth. was as shown on table 21. Two thirds (64.5%) of the responses mentioned were either sores on body or loss of weight. The proportion of responses that did not know any mode of transmission was 14. 5%.
| Symptom | No. of responses | % |
|
Sores on body Loss of weight Don't know Continuous cough Sweating at night Lack of appetite Weak Loss of hair Persistent diarrhoea |
42 38 18 6 5 5 4 4 2 |
33.9 30.6 14.5 4.8 4.0 4.0 3.2 3.2 1.6 |
Mode of transmission of HIV/AIDS
Knowledge on mode of transmission of HIV/AIDS was also measured. Out of the total number of responses, 57.9% mentioned sexual intercourse. Other responses are shown on table 22.
| Mode of transmission | No. of responses | % |
Sexual intercourse Contact with blood of infected person Unsterilised injection Do not know Sex with many partners Sharing cups/beds with infected person Sex without condom |
66 16 11 9 5 4 3 |
57.9 14.0 9.6 7.9 4.4 3.5 2.6 |
A deliberate question on whether 'sharing a room with someone with AIDS' will cause one to become HIV+, 48% of youth answered positively!
On what they would do if they discovered that their partner was H IV +, 43. 5% of the youth said they would separate. Another 17.6% will do nothing about it, while 11.8% would seek an HIV test. About 7.1 % said they would console and take care of the partner and 5.9% would go for treatment!.
The youth were asked to state their sources of information on HIV/AIDS. About 5.2% of the youth said they did not know of any source. The commonest source were the health facilities, mentioned by 59.3% of the youth. Other sources were; schools 15.6%, books/magazines - 5.2%, friends and relatives - 4.2%. The AIDS centre was mentioned by only 2.1 %. Traditional healer and PPASA were mentioned by 1.0% each.
The youth were asked to state any drugs that they were aware of. The knowledge levels by specific drug/substance is as follows:
Consumption of drugs/substance
About 70.5% of the youth reported at least one member of the family who consumes alcohol. A quarter (27.7%) of the youth reported ever consuming alcohol. When asked if they would stop taking alcohol, almost half (43.2%), were not willing to stop.
Only 6.7% of the youth reported having ever used drugs. Mostly, they consume these drugs during festivities and parties, all for fun!. The majority of those taking were willing to stop given an opportunity.
The youth were asked if they were aware of any educational/skills training services within Winterveldt. A third (36.3%) responded positively. Of these, 79.2% said the existing facilities were useful to the youth in the community.
Areas that the youth felt needed to be addressed by the existing facilities included:
Home economics - 23.3%
Computer studies - 18.6%
Vocational training - 18.6%
Dress making - 9.3%
Building/Masonry - 9.3%
Other - 6.9%