Participants in a group photograph after the close-out session
Hundreds of adolescents in the Upper East and Northern regions have been reached with essential Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) services and educational programmes following the successful implementation of the Youth for Health (Y4H) project.
The three-year project, which begun in 2022 with funding from the European Union, has empowered these adolescents through creating safe spaces for learning, dialogue and informed choice.
A youth Champion under the Y4H project, and a representative of the Yarigabisi Community, Atanga Seraphina Ayinpoka, sharing her experience said the use of other learning activities helped to reach adolescent girls in her community who prior to that were reluctant.
She also highlighted the need to reach persons with disability with SRHR services, saying, “I don’t… because of the criticism or the isolation that was created … so even though we claim we are including them, we don’t see them around us when we call for young people.” Ms. Ayinpoka further called for funding so the benefits of the project would be sustained.
“I think NGOs should look at it and make sure they provide those equipment, those items, so that there wouldn’t be a situation where we would go to a clinic to seek for Reproductive Health Service, and they will be like the items are not there or the machinery to be used aren’t available,” she said.
The project was implemented in Ghana by Marie Stopes International (MSI)-Ghana, Reproductive Choices and Youth Advocate Ghana, with support from Ghana Education Service, particularly the School Health Education Programme Unit and the Ghana Health Service.
Speaking at the project’s close-out meeting held in Accra, Programmes Manager, Abukari Abdul-Mumin (MSIG), said the target age bracket were people aged between 15 to 19 years in districts across the North.
“We were in Nanumba North, Nanumba South, Nanton District, Saboba District, and Kpandai District. But if you go to the Upper West Region, we worked in the Bongo District, Binduri District, Builsa North District, and the Talensi District,” he added.
Y4H Project Activities
Mr. Abdul-Mumin, giving an overview of the project activities, said 40 school health and wellness clubs were set-up and operationalised to provide knowledge and skills to young people to make informed decisions about their reproductive health and rights after school hours and on weekends.
“We distributed autoclave machines, BP apparatus, examination couches, adult weighing scales, IUD plates, implant kits, and instrument drums both in the Northern Region and in the Upper East Region.
“For comprehensive abortion care, we were able to contribute to the delivery of 2,353 services. For long-term reversible matters, we were able to contribute to the provision of 46,965 services. And then for short-term matters, we were able to contribute to a whopping 270,320 services… short-term methods contributed to 85% of the total services that we provided,” he disclosed.
Y4H Project Impact
Touching on the impact of the project, Mr. Abdul-Mumin said 24,131 unintended and unplanned pregnancies were averted through the services the project provided, adding that about 30 maternal deaths were prevented.
“Also, 8,381 unsafe abortions were averted and the project also contributed to a total of 155,810 couple-year protection (CYPs),” he added. Mr. Abdul-Mumin highlighted that a total of GH¢1,208,320 have been saved through the project; money that the government would have pumped into the health sector, but for the intervention of this project.
The Youth for Health (Y4H) project focused on reaching the poorest and most marginalised adolescent girls, including those living with disabilities, and in rural and hard-to-reach areas of Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Zambia.
By unlocking demand and access and contributing towards changes in favour of supportive policies and funding environments, Y4H will increase and sustain access to reproductive choices for girls and young women.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri