Joshua Marikopo

 Today is #InternationalSafeAbortionDay. It is worth knowing that Zimbabwe's policy on abortion is mainly covered in the Termination of Pregnancy Act. This act was passed in conservative conial times. We're in 2023 and a lot has changed. It is time for this Act to be reviewed. Maternal mortality rate in Zimbabwe is at an unprecedented point. Each year many women lose their lives in the process of aborting a pregnancy through unsafe means. Female teenagers in Zimbabwe are increasingly getting unwanted pregnancies because of issues to do with lack of comprehensive sexuality education and timely medical services and products such as condoms and contraceptives. In the Medical Services Ammendment Bill a young person 16 and under can only access sexual health services in the company of an adult. This policy is restrictive and not youth friendly and has is one of the triggers of high fertility rates amongst the 14 - 19 young women age groups (to read in-depth about this, check out UNF...

 Last week I had the wonderful pleasure of joining my fellow GOAL NextGen Youths at the X-Change program in Dublin Ireland 🇮🇪. The X-Change programme was initiated by the Global Citizenship team of GOAL Global organization as a way to engage young people in arts to create change in their societies. I joined Denis Wembi (who runs the Pages for Progress project aimed at educating youths about the Global Goals in Uganda), Bezawit Liro; a University student from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia who is passionate about using computer technology and art to engage the public in her and finally Clodagh Sulley a recent graduate in Ireland who is using her social sciences education in helping the Irish youths understand more about climate change. The four of us sat for a panel talk at the IMMA Earth Rising Festival which ran throughout the whole of last week in Dublin at the Museum of Modern Art discussing how climate change and food systems are interrelated and how art can be used to engage people...