Kick4Life has arranged a health education platform through animation videos that are broadcasted on their social media pages for youth to easily access them and live a healthy lifestyle.
The platforms include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and their website.
Through its programme called ‘The Good Health & Wellbeing Through Football‘ Kick4Life aims to fill the gap of providing targeted health education specifically designed to engage and motivate youth around the most pressing challenges in Lesotho, including, HIV/AIDS, hygiene & sanitation, nutrition, drug, alcohol and substance abuse as well as mental health.
Kick4Life Programs Manager Maphoka Pitso said their main aim for setting up the platforms is to bridge the gap caused by the Covid-19 pandemic whose effects on multiple sectors are detrimental. She indicated that the means in which they used to pass information and educate youth have also been prohibited.
“We had to be creative and come up with effective and very innovative ways to cater for and accommodate almost everybody, our videos are structured in animation form, they are short hence cheap, Pitso said.
“We covered six sessions with the animation,” she added.
Pitso told Newsday Arts that in this program their target is the young people aged 13 to 24 years. She said that young people in Lesotho face severe, multiple and overlapping health challenges that can have a wide range of impacts on their development and future prospects, thus the program’s intention is to promote behaviour change to improve health and improve access to services as a key factor in addressing existing health conditions and needs.
The project addresses this need through individual referrals to specialist health services dependent on the specific needs of participants. Notably this includes referrals to HIV testing, counselling and medical follow-ups. Many of these health needs and challenges are linked to the underlying societal issues of HIV/AIDS, and our integrated approach to this project addresses wellbeing in a holistic way,” she explained.
She said as Kick4Life, they believe this is essential in improving the overall long-term health challenges of young people in Lesotho.
The curriculum also includes significant components of gender equality and life-skills development, which are critical in supporting the adoption of healthy attitudes and behaviour.
