South Africa in 2024
The need
South Africa as a whole is experiencing four colliding health epidemics: HIV and tuberculosis, chronic illness and mental health, injury and violence, and maternal, neonatal, and child mortality. For the country’s youth population, these challenges are heightened. 63% of youth are unemployed and a lack of opportunities exacerbate existing health, economic and well-being challenges.
In terms of sexual and reproductive health, South Africa experiences a high unmet need for services and products, which leads to high rates of unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion and school dropouts. 31% of all 15 to 24-year-olds have an unmet contraceptive need. The national adolescent pregnancy rate in South Africa is 6.8%, with 58% of all unwanted pregnancies ending in unsafe abortion. South Africa has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates globally with young women continuing to be disproportionately affected. Sexual and gender-based violence remains a concern in South Africa with 33.1% of women having experienced physical violence in their lifetime.
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Our work in South Africa
Tiko launched in South Africa in 2023 to respond to the growing health crisis facing adolescents and young people. Our country programme focuses on providing access to services across sexual and reproductive health, HIV treatment and prevention and mental health. In October 2023, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) to onboard their clinics as Tiko partnered service providers, and continue to engage with both regional and national government to advance access to care for adolescents and young people.
One of our key achievements in 2024 was our expansion of services in the City of Johannesburg and the consolidation and scale-up of services in Ekurhuleni. This entailed a shift in demand generation to include smaller grassroots-led CBOs, the inclusion of community health workers and diversifying service delivery to include community-based HIV testing partnerships and integrated mobile clinics. Our services focus on increasing the agency and resilience of adolescent young people by enhancing their choice and access to mental health and sexual and reproductive health services.
The Tiko ecosystem in South Africa
447
Mobilisers
95
Health Service
Providers
9
Local Retailers
Testimonial
Puleng
Johannesburg, South Africa
I experienced gender-based violence when I was young and suffered from depression to the point where I did not leave home for a long time. I was introduced to Tiko through a mobiliser and now I attend counselling and my mental health has improved so much that I recently represented my province in athletics.
