| Sumario: | The aim of this article is to present a sexuality education programme, which can be used in puberty rites for girls (vukhomba) to improve the health status of women in the community. The programme was developed from the inputs made by initiated girls and women participating in the puberty rites in the Limpopo Province. The purpose of the programme is to share information that will enable girls and women to have a responsible, satisfying and safe sex life and to prevent teenage pregnancy, STDs, HIV and AIDS. The need for this programme was identified during a study entitled 'Puberty rites for girls in the Northern Region of the Northern Province of South Africa: Implications for women's health and health promotion.' The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the events and activities of 'vukhomba'; to describe the content of the sexuality education given to girls during the rites and to explore the possibility of utilising vukhomba for the improvement of the health status of women. The study was designed as a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research project. The ethnographic strategy was used to gain access to the 'vukhomba' to view and describe the rites from an emic perspective.
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