Youth leaders, religious and traditional leaders, assembly members and other community gatekeepers have been engaged to strategically promote community-based reproductive health education in Nanumba North, Saboba and Nanton Districts in the Northern Region of Ghana.
The community engagement was part of activities under the Youth for Health (Y4H) project which is co-funded by the European Union, and implemented by the Ghana Health Service with support from the Youth Advocates Ghana (YAG).
The activity was carried out in 12 communities in the three selected districts. The implementing communities were introduced to the Y4H project while identifying and engaging various stakeholders to deepen collaboration for a successful execution of the project.
The stakeholders, mainly traditional and religious leaders, and assembly members in various communities expressed their appreciation for the project and pledged to support YAG and partners in the implementation to help improve the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents in their communities.
“Many young people are dropping out of school due to the increase in teenage pregnancy, hence we are happy to support the implementation of the project in our community as it will help educate our children on their reproductive health to enable them make informed decisions,” noted Bawa Salifu, the Chief Imam in the Massaka community in the Nanumba North district.
Haruna Yahuza, the Public Health Officer for the Saboba District, highlighted that, “I believe adolescent boys and girls in our community require massive reproductive health education, especially for the girls as they struggle to cater for themselves during menstruation, so we are glad to support efforts to improve adolescent reproductive health education in our community”.
The Youth for Health (Y4H) project aims to increase demand for, and access to high-quality, discrimination-free ASRHR information and services; increase public sector willingness and capacity to deliver and sustain high-quality ASRHR information and services, and improve enabling policy and funding environment at regional, national, and sub-national levels of the project.
The project builds on MSI and partners’ experience in supporting the delivery of adolescent-friendly healthcare, advocating for increased domestic funding for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and strengthening the capacity of adolescents, youth and community structures.
The Y4H project is being implemented in six countries in Africa from 2022-2025. In Ghana, the project is implemented by Marie Stopes Ghana (MSG) and Youth Advocates Ghana (YAG) in the Northern and Upper East regions. YAG leads the implementation process of the reproductive health education (RHE) for in-and-out of school adolescents in Ghana and contributes to awareness creation and policy dialogue on SRHR of vulnerable adolescents.
YAG 3 pix caption— participants at the community engagement
