by Tawanda Musariri

The Ministry of Health and Childcare will tomorrow launch the Young Adults Survey of Zimbabwe (YAZ) where Minister of Health and Childcare Dr Obediah Moyo is expected to be the guest of honour at the occasion to be held in Harare.

The survey was sponsored by the Ministry's traditional partners in healthcare delivery which included the national statistician, ZIMSTAT, the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, PEPFAR, the Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric Aim DS Foundation, the Centre for Disease Control and EGPAF.

YAZ seeks to inquire the health impediments presented by violence against children as they journey into adulthood. The survey target population is the 13-24years age group. The survey took special interest on the effects of violence on the wellness of children in areas of physical and psycho social wellbeing.

Speaking for the Ministry in a pre-launch sensitization talk with the media, Dr Owen Mugurungi said, "It is important to know the linkages between sexual abuse, physical abuse and emotional abuse to HIV and AIDS. It suffices to remind ourselves that we have had very good results in terms of the decline of prevalence of HIV and AIDS nationally but a closer look will show you that amongst young people and adolescents, the rate of new infections and prevalence remains high. This is why we undertook the survey to make sure we get the results and unpack them so that we can have good programs."

The Ministry and its implementing partners noted violence against children as a major contributor to the general unwellness of children in all forms of desired development. According to them, "Violence against children undermines national efforts in public health, social welfare, human rights and economical development. Child abuse inhibits achievement of global efforts to uphold United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)."