Author: Gvantsa Khizanishvili, Georgia
Improving access to and awareness of health issues among youth using new technologies has become a new way for non-profit sectors around the world to advance issues on their agenda. IntiMate by Bemoni is the first application of such type in Georgia, and it is an excellent example of sexuality education using innovative technologies. It is available for download both by App store and Google play. The app has been developed by Public Union Bemoni as a part of the project “Investing in Sexual and Reproductive Health Promotion and HIV Prevention among Young People in Georgia”.
Non-profit for sex education
Georgia has inadequate policies in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights. There are strong religious and conservative powers and gender inequality in addition to a fragile civil society that especially influences the lives of adolescents and young people. Much progress has been made in recent years in advocacy to advance youth sexual and reproductive health and rights, for example. In May of 2017, the Georgian Ministry of Education and Science signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations (UN) Joint Programme for Gender Equality to assist the ongoing revision of the national curriculum and help integrate the issues of human rights, gender equality and healthy living into the educational programme. Additionally, this February, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Georgia initiated an interactive learning module for evidence-based family planning called Virtual Contraception Consultation (ViC), which was introduced at Tbilisi State Medical University.
Despite these advances, there are still many gaps in advancing youth sexual and reproductive health and rights for young people. For example, there are no state supported sex education programs that exist in many countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia including Georgia. Since there is no state supported sex education programs including information about HIV/AIDS, no information targeted specifically at young people is available, and health service providers are not equipped with the skills to meet young people’s needs for information, counselling and confidentiality of services. Therefore, the non-formal education mostly led by non-profit sector play a significant role in youth sex education.
New ways to raise awareness
The IntiMate app aims to improve knowledge of young people around issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights including HIV/AIDS. With the goal to spark the conversation around the issues, by containing easily comprehensible, fun, attractive content and to encourage participation of young people in prevention of HIV/AIDS. Containing quiz games, video information, definitions, calendar, list of youth friendly services among others, now young people in Georgia will have access reliable information on sexual health and wellbeing at their fingertips. Launched in July 2017, it already has already attracted international media attention.
