MISS SA SHUDUFHADZO MUSIDA TO ADDRESS AT UNITED NATIONS EVENT

Reigning Miss South Africa, Shudufhadzo Musida is set to address a United Nations women’s event, where she will discuss the importance of education for girls and young women.

According to Shudu, as she’s affectionately known, her emphasis at the event will be on the need for mental health education.

The event will take place on Thursday, 1 July and will be held under the guidance of the Generation Equality Forum – a global movement for gender equality.

The Miss South Africa organisation said this is a high-profile advocacy drive to mobilise decision-makers to accelerate action and investment to address the alarming numbers of adolescent girls and young women acquiring HIV and dying of Aids in sub-Saharan Africa through the power of secondary education.

Speaking to Daily Sun, Shudu said she’s honoured to have been asked to speak at the event.

“I feel very strongly about the need for education around issues of mental health, especially the removal of the stigma attached to anything to do with mental illness.”

She said she believes there is a need for the integration of mental health education into existing programmes that target HIV prevention in communities and schools.

“An emphasis on mental health services may assist in the prevention and management of HIV,” she said.

“I call the mind the powerhouse. It’s the tool that can change lives and the narratives that exist in our society. For any change to come about in our societies, we need to empower the mind because if we don’t, we will live in a society that has low levels of self-awareness, inhibiting much-needed progress needed for our collective development.”

Shudu said this was particularly important now during the global pandemic that has affected everyone, especially young people.

Shudu at the event will be joined by an esteemed group of speakers including Tunisian diplomat Aya Chebbi, former African Union Youth Envoy Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS executive director Lesotho Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro and Gabon Prime Minister Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda.