There’s a conversation happening in Zimbabwe right now that most young people aren’t part of, and it’s about our own bodies.
Here’s the number that should stop every young leader in their tracks: 1 in 5 people aged 18–24 in Zimbabwe is currently living with chlamydia, gonorrhoea, or trichomoniasis. Look around any room of twenty people you know; statistically, four are carrying an infection right now, and most don’t know it.
One in four women tested for discharge symptoms test positive for gonorrhoea. Four in ten STI patients are also living with HIV. And over half of sexually active young people didn’t use a condom last time. That last stat isn’t a knowledge gap; it’s a stigma gap, an access gap, and a leadership gap.
For too long, SRHR conversations have been designed about young people instead of with us. That’s changing through youth-led organisations, peer educators, hotlines, and advocates waiting for permission to speak about their own bodies.
Real leadership here isn’t a title. It’s being the friend who says, “Let’s get tested together.” It’s making comprehensive sexuality education sound like us honest, direct, and unafraid. It’s treating condoms and testing as normal, not shameful. It’s holding clinics accountable for being youth-friendly spaces, not judgemental ones.
We are the most connected, most vocal generation of young Zimbabweans there’s ever been. This rise in STIs isn’t a story of failure; it’s a call addressed directly to us. Every statistic here is a young person who needed better information, better access, or one brave person to say, “Your health matters.”
So be that person. Start the conversation your group has been avoiding. Normalise testing the way we’ve normalised everything else loudly, together.
Know your status. Protect your future. Lead the way.
