Reproductive health education goes digital

Dar es Salaam. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is using social media and animation to provide sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) to the youth.

This was said by Amua project manager Adam Mbyallu in the city yesterday.

Amua project is funded by UNFPA and is collaborating with Mulika Tanzania and Sahara Sparks in the initiative.

He said the four concepts that the youth developed will help in guiding the youth and the society in general on SRH issues especially through awareness creation.

Among the winning ideas, electronic-Shangazi is an online electronic health advisor that runs on Facebook messenger that allows a person to access SRH through chatting.

Ms Dorah Ndazi is a co-founder of e-shangazi who said that the system works with help from various health professionals like Japan and others from Tanzania.

“Many youth use Facebook. So, we came up with this idea for people to access enough information on SRH. The platform guarantees privacy and offers directions for further help to nearby health centres,” said Ndazi.

At the same time, music and animation have also been put to use for the youth to learn about SRH services as “harakati za Lucy and Mkwawa arts space” will also be part of the projects that will educate the youth on the matter.

Mr Gwamaka Mwabuka, another co-founder of Harakati za Lucy, said there was the need to involve men in the sexual health education activities so that they too can understand.

According to him there is the need for men to contribute towards the wellbeing of women considering that they are an important part of the society.

Ms Jane Chilery, who started e-shangazi, told The Citizen the following: “All the presented ideas come handy to all of us as they will create awareness to many in a very short time. As many youth use media for entertainment I think there will be a revolution and it will be used for education.”

Mr Richard Prosper, a young student who likes animations said that this was a good way to pass useful information to the audience as it grabbed their attention.

He further urged the youth to use this opportunity so that they can be educated on SRH.