The Centre for Social Sciences Research (CSSR) and the  Institute for Democracy, Citizenship and Public Policy in Africa  (IDCPPA) at the University of Cape Town invites you to join us for a lunchtime seminar on 24 October 2023 presented by  with Dr Christina Laurenzi, Alli Roshni and Chuma Busakhwe at 12:45pm. 

About the Seminar:

Screen & Support: insights from a clinic-community collaboration to upskill peer supporters in Lusaka, Zambia

Screen & Support was conceptualised as a package to support youth peer supporters embedded in health facilities and their clinic-based mentors to more systematically identify and respond to violence, including gender-based violence (GBV), among the young women living with HIV with whom they work. Bridging research with real-world practice, a collaborative team from the University of Cape Town, Paediatric-Adolescent Treatment Africa (PATA), and Kabangwe Creative Initiative Association (KCIA) led this work in Chazanga, outside Lusaka, Zambia between April 2022-April 2023. Following a series of individual stakeholder interviews, community conversations with key stakeholder groups including young women themselves, and collaborative engagement with peer supporters, our team co-developed a screening tool with peer supporters, which peer supporters used to screen nearly 200 adolescent girls and young women living with HIV to understand their experiences of violence as well as related experiences. We held a dissemination event and training workshop in early October 2023. This seminar will share insights from the project, the October two-day event, and next steps for dissemination and sharing in the region.

Speaker:

 

Dr Christina Laurenzi is a senior researcher at Stellenbosch University’s Institute for Life Course Health Research. Originally from the U.S., she has nearly a decade of experience living and working in South Africa, where her research has focused on adolescent mental health, HIV, and maternal health interventions. Christina is committed to pursuing avenues of research and intervention that lead to new interdisciplinary understanding, promote effective solutions, and have clear social value.

As a 2023-24 recipient of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, Alli Roshni is currently engaged in a year-long project focused on examining multidisciplinary efforts to address pediatric and adolescent HIV on a global scale. Her project begins with research supporting young women living with HIV exposed to violence in Zambia.

Chuma Busakhwe is a master’s candidate in Psychology and a Research Assistant with the Screen & Support project. Her research interests include adolescent mental health, early motherhood, and HIV, and she has acted in numerous research and advisory roles to support and advocate for youth mental health.

 

 

 24 October 2023
 12:45 - 14:00 SAST
  CSSR Seminar Room, 4.29 Robert Leslie Social Science Building, UCT

Hosted by the Centre for Social Science Research and the Institute for Democracy, Citizenship and Public Policy in Africa