Abstract

This paper briefly thematically analyses the moral lessons derived from the MTV "Shuga down south" drama series acted in South Africa, which portray the issues youth are confronted with in our contemporary society, such as HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, identity and sexual awareness. As such, the study suggests positive health behaviours and choices youths can imbibe.  The Edutainment framework was adopted in this study to demonstrate the place of television drama in creating awareness and attitudinal change in the society. The themes explored in this study include peer pressure, supporting friends and living with HIV, HIV disclosure, abortion, unplanned pregnancy, dangers of traditional medicine, infidelity deceit of underage female in the society, HIV testing, stigmatization, living with HIV, and transactional sex. This analysed themes led to suggestions that youths in Africa and the world at large, can adhere to, so as to improve their health behaviours and choices, such as the need to test for HIV/AIDS regularly, that contraceptive/condom use is not the answer to prevent HIV, the best is abstinence, never give up even when you contract HIV, live a positive life and support friends living with HIV. Furthermore, the study proposes that female youths should abstain from illicit sex that leads to abortion as the most dangerous abortion technique is the traditional method.