Drugs, alcohol abuse and HIV awareness campaign

The North Eastern Region joined hands with the Society for Family Health and loveLife to run an awareness campaign against alcohol abuse and HIV at the Polokwane campus.

Under the theme Don’t Let alcohol, drugs and HIV ruin your life, the campaign was held at the Polokwane Campus on 24 July 2009. Invited to the event were Unisa students, students from other higher learning institutions and grade 12 students from selected schools in the surrounding area of Polokwane. The event was a huge success as evidenced by a considerable turnout of around 750 people.

The event was in the form of “edutainment”, i.e. education through entertainment such as drama by Unisa students, comedy, and music by a local rap artist. The programme director was Ashifa Shabba, a well-known personality in radio and entertainment.

Unisa North Eastern Region realised that the majority of students coming to the Polokwane campus were of school-leaving age. It is this age group that is most vulnerable to the allure and temptations of alcohol and substance abuse, which in turn lead to high risks of HIV infection.