Digital safe spaces: Social media as a tool for Mental Health and HIV prevention for youth

Clinton Moyo & Calisto | Best Health Solutions

The structural and behavioural ecosystems that govern the health trajectories of adolescents and young people, especially those within key and vulnerable populations are being radically reimagined. At the forefront of this shift is the emergence of digital safe spaces, with social media as both the vehicle and the terrain for youth-centered mental health support and HIV prevention strategies. These platforms, when thoughtfully curated and behaviorally grounded, are more than communication channels — they are dynamic ecosystems of healing, resistance and transformation.

Across provinces like Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Limpopo, North West, Eastern Cape, and the Free State, our programming has leaned into norm-shifting interventions rooted in Human-Centred Design, unlocking community-led insight into the shifting attitudes, beliefs and emotional drivers of young people. Through this lens, we no longer treat youth as passive targets of interventions, but as co-creators of context-specific, tech-enabled solutions.

Social media, in this sense, is not simply digital infrastructure. It is a behavioural space where identity is curated, stigma is navigated, norms are contested and social protection is sought. It mirrors the psychosocial struggles of a generation while simultaneously offering an avenue for collective resilience. Yet, youth mental health remains delicately intertwined with HIV risk, driven by low-risk perception, fractured intergenerational dialogue and historically paternalistic approaches to healthcare delivery.

Our social listening labs, insight harvesting sprints and community-led digital ethnographies have unearthed urgent truths: that youth do not perceive existing physical health spaces as psychologically safe; that data costs remain a structural barrier to engagement; and that service uptake is not a function of availability but of acceptability. In other words, free services do not automatically translate to accessed services.

In response, we’ve scaffolded a new model, digitally mediated behavioural ecosystems which blend micro-incentives, behavioural nudges, gamified learning, peer-led dialogue, and segmentation models to reach young people with the right message, on the right platform, at the right time. These systems are not generic; they are behaviourally disaggregated, context-sensitive and locally prototyped to account for age, gender, risk behaviour and socio-cultural positioning.

We deliberately avoid prescriptive messaging, choosing instead to create engagement loops that help youth assess their own risk, navigate mental health and explore agency in decision-making. Our virtual safe spaces allow for the integration of traditional and biomedical narratives, opening up channels where diverse systems of knowledge including indigenous and cultural can coexist without hierarchy, fostering holistic health-seeking behaviours.

This pivot from top-down didactic programming to youth-led, emotionally intelligent design has also allowed us to address deeper psychosocial gaps. As Dr Ntombifikile Nokwethemba Mtshali aptly stated, during one of our engagements:

“Young people don’t connect coping skills to resilience and our systems don’t allow for that connection to be built.”

These digital interventions are intentionally designed to fill this void, offering emotional scaffolding, community validation and pathways to care, while countering intergenerational stigma and gender-based power asymmetries.

And yet, while innovation thrives, sustainability lags. Many of these groundbreaking platforms remain in pilot stages, not due to lack of relevance, but due to limited financial resourcing. The promise of digital safe spaces, scalable, adaptive and profoundly human — risks being throttled by infrastructure constraints and lack of integration into formal programming.

This is a call, not just for recognition, but for resourcing not in charity, but in strategic investment. Investment in community-led, tech-enabled behavioural interventions that shift HIV prevention from medicalised models to person-centred ecosystems of care and connection. Investment in platforms that amplify, not silence, youth voices. And investment in digital spaces that do not just mirror the offline world, but reimagine it entirely.

As we continue to operationalise Human-Centred Design within national and regional public health programming, we invite funders, policy architects and development partners to co-invest in the digital transformation of youth health spaces. The tools are here. The models are proven. The youth are ready. Now, we need the systems and resources to match their courage.

Let’s build safe, digital futures — together.

Alison Buttenheim Ackim Hamweenda Bulelani Kuwane Boniface Njenga Mayibongwe Abel Mnkandla Banele Nkambule Ramona Baijnath Gustaaf Wolvaardt Celicia Serenata Celeste Madondo Cezzanne Hoffmann Cephas Chikanda Candice M Chetty-Makkan Cathy HALDANE Candy Day Clinton Moyo calisto rugora Delly Mashele Dr Musa Manganye, DrPH David Nkwana Tshwane District PWUD Sub-Sector Ndumiso Tshuma PhD, MBA Doug Evans Deanne Goldberg Dr Dena van den Bergh Veena Devi Shaik (MBA) Fabienne Michaux Felicita Hikuam Fai Karl Gwei Njuwa Maureen Fatsani Tshabalala MPH, Ph.D Gilford Chakwanira Linda-Gail Bekker Gopal Mitra George Shakarishvili Mandlethu Gennady Ngwenya Geoffrey Setswe Annette Gerritsen Hon Mmapaseka Steve Letsike Yumnah Hattas Harsha Dayal, PhD Indlela Project HE2RO Imke Joubert International AIDS Society Julia Sibale Justice Ajaari Jacqueline Pienaar Joyee Washington, PhD, MS, MPH, MCHES® Julie Miller, PhD James McIntyre Prof Janan Dietrich Jeremiah Chikovore Kabelo Maleke Kerry Mangold Lynda Toussaint Linda Mafu, Msc, MBA, MPhil, Doctoral Candidate René Liezel Sparks Lebone Thedi Mikki Gates, SHRM-SCP, GPHR, CAALF The Melton Foundation Prof Martha Chadyiwa Massimiliano Sani Zola Melody Silimfe Melikhaya Soboyisi Megan Briede Nokulunga Nobuhle Zondo Dr Ndivhuwo Luruli Nasiphi Mqedlana Ntombela Natasha Davies Nandisile (Luthuli) Sikwana Dr Nellie Myburgh Dr Nevilene Slingers Ndumiso Madubela Nditsheni Mungoni Prof. Maheswar Satpathy Patience Mungwari Dr Pascalia Munyewende Peter Mathebula Mr Empire Dr. Pedzisai Ndagurwa (Ph.D.) Pepukai Chikukwa Qhawekazi🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️ Thengwa Ruth Rensburg Russ Rensburg Robert Kelly, PhD Renata Ram Rayana R. Gugu Rejoyce Shongwe-Xaba Dr Rebaone Petlele (PhD) Refilwe Mophosho Dr Sanele Ngcobo Dr Sabelile Tenza (PhD) Save the Children International Sethabile Msweli Seithati Molefi Matshidiso Sello (PhD) Tlatsetso Palime Tabisa Silere-Maqetseba Nthabiseng Mogowe TB HIV Care Tendai Tundu Nee Vondo Veronicca Molefe Yolaan Andrews (nee Adams) Yvonne Habulembe, MBA, BBA Zwebuka Khumalo Zanele Dlamini Dr. Zandile Mthembu Colleen Wagner