With a growing population of youth in South Africa (over 19 million), there is a big need for more youth-friendly services – services that do not alienate this important population group.Adolescence and young adulthood are times of rapid physical and psychosocial change and development. They are stages in which parental influence decreases and the influence of peers and media increases. As a result, these stages are often associated with a rise in experimentation and exploration.In addition, growing up in poverty creates an even bigger challenge for a large proportion of the country's youth. In South Africa, the leading causes of death among young people differ by gender, race and income status. Currently, the burden of disease among low-income communities is high, with tuberculosis (TB) and HIV emerging as the leading causes of death among all youth in the country, along with violence and traffic accidents for young men.Improving the health and well-being of youth is crucial for their well-being today and for their future economic productivity. South Africa requires services that will get young people excited about their lives and their health. In order to achieve this youth need to:1. Have adequate health-related knowledge;2. Have self-efficacy (believe they can take care of themselves and have the skills and power to do so) and be motivated to pursue or maintain healthy behaviour;3. Know their personal health status; and4. Have quality youth-friendly health services readily available.We believe that large-scale interventions (though also playing an important role in changing cultural beliefs and gaps in health education) must be accompanied by more tailored individual-level approaches because no two people are the same.Large-scale campaigns do not address individual needs and thought processes. They do not speak to the particular nuances of an individual's circumstances. Only individual counselling can address these issues.