Adolescent reproductive health behaviour has become an emerging world concern as the age at menarche and sexual debut has plummeted globally. The primary objective of the paper is to understand the importance of reproductive health education to contraceptive use among adolescents in Mhondoro-Ngezi District. The paper also investigates knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices (KABP) pertaining to contraceptive use among adolescents. Factors underlying KABP are further explored. In addition, this paper investigates the availability, accessibility, acceptability and affordability of contraceptives to adolescents. These issues are assessed from the perspective of all duty bearers (mothers, fathers, healthcare providers, religious leaders and secondary school teachers). The paper is based on a cross-sectional study which was conducted in Mhondoro-Ngezi area. A total of 185 adolescents aged 15-19 years were sampled with a sex ratio of 67. The study triangulated both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. The results in this paper indicate that adolescents in Mhondoro-Ngezi engage in early sexual debut. Despite the fact that knowledge about modern contraceptives is universal (96%) among adolescents in Mhondoro-Ngezi, contraceptive use is very low, 21%. Limited contraceptive use among adolescents in the study area is a result of the interplay of demographic, policy, socio-cultural, religious and economic factors. The study has thus recommends that the government and other relevant stakeholders to formulate policies that promote reproductive education in order to foster the utilization of contraceptives by adolescents. (Afr J Reprod Health 2017; 21[1]:49-63).

Male circumcision has witnessed a paradigm shift from being regarded as a religious and cultural practice to a global intervention strategy meant to curb transmission of HIV. This is particularly evident in sub-Saharan African countries where the HIV prevalence is greater than 15%. Zimbabwe adopted the voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) strategy in 2009; however, since then the uptake of the intervention has only 10% of the adult male population has reported having been circumcised. To better understand this limited uptake of VMMC, we conducted a qualitative study with uncircumcised men aged 15-79 years in Mhondoro-Ngezi, Zimbabwe. Through assessing men's attitudes towards VMMC in seven focus group discussions, conducted between July and August 2012, this article seeks to provide improved strategies for delivering this intervention in Zimbabwe. These data reveal that, in general, men have a negative attitude towards VMMC. Specific barriers to the uptake of VMMC included the perceived challenge to masculinity, post-circumcision stigma, lack of reliable and adequate information and perceptions about the appropriateness of VMMC. These results suggest that structural interventions aimed at reducing stigma related to circumcision, in addition to increased efforts to disseminate accurate information about VMMC, are required in order to dispel men's attitudes that hinder demand for VMMC.

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Climate change and the related increasing variability are real phenomena in sub-Saharan Africa. They are exacerbating climatic risks associated with small-scale agriculture in tropical regions. This study seeks to assess smallholder farmers' perceptions of climate change and also their adaptive strategies at the microscale in Mhakwe Communal Area in Zimbabwe. A mixed method research design was employed to carry out the study. The design was a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. A sample of 43 smallholder farmers was purposively selected because the population of smallholder farmers was unknown. The study noted that government agencies and non-governmental organisations were providing information about climate change and variability to smallholder farmers. Farmers practiced a number of adaptation strategies such as timing in planting, zero tillage, mulching, agroforestry and gardening. The study recommended that external agencies should focus on strengthening existing adaptive strategies. There is also need to scale-up programmes on capacity building with regards to dissemination of analysed weather and climate data.

Despite great strides made in transforming the State from authoritarian rule to multi-party democracy since 1994, the government of South Africa is facing the challenge of high influx of migrants especially from African countries north of the Limpopo River. The project of building a Rainbow Nation has been mainly centred on racial transformation but the high influx of migrants especially from African countries resulted in the reproduction of new forms of hatred and resentment. The new African migrants increased the competition of accessing national resources in a country with high inequalities yet with plenty of resources. It may be suggested that the increase in xenophobic violence since the early 2000s might be posited in a broader context. This study insisted on the argument that the xenophobic violence against African immigrants in South Africa is also embodied in the new ethnic constructions of nationalism in Africa in the era of globalisation where human mobility has become an important element in defining the African political landscape and access to resources. Historically, tensions and conflicts among ethnic groups in colonial and post-colonial sub-Saharan Africa, in general, also manifested the competitions resulted from the desire to control national resources and safeguarding social order. Xenophobic violence reflects discriminatory tendencies which are not only driven by the desire to legitimise entitlements to national resources but also of perceiving African non-nationals as a threat to social order and ethnic identity.