By Evans Worlanyo Ameamu, GNA
Anlo-Afiadenyigba (V/R), July 27, GNA- The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in partnership with the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG), has organised a Youth Open Day dubbed “The Clinic Is Yours.”
The initiative held at Anlo-Afiadenyigba health centre in the Keta Municipality of the Volta Region, was to enable adolescents in selected districts of the Region, to access free Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) services without fear or intimidation.
Mr Christopher E. Makam, the Focal Person for the UNFPA Adolescent Girls Empowerment Project and GBV Scale-Up Project at PPAG for the in region, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, explained that the initiative formed part of the Government of Ghana–UNFPA Country Programme.
“The activity is designed to familiarise young people with service delivery points so they can confidently visit health facilities. In our cultural context, young people often feel shy, unrelaxed or embarrassed walking to the health facility for reproductive health services,” Mr Makam stated.
He said the programme was currently running in five districts in the Volta Region, which involved Anloga, Keta, Akatsi North, Adaklu and Central Tongu, explaining that the districts were identified through data-driven prioritisation, as they recorded high prevalence of teenage pregnancy, child marriage, sexually transmitted infections and related SRHR challenges.
Mr Makam said the selection was scientific with data on adolescent services in the region, as collated, prioritised and limited resources could not cover all districts, hence the focus on areas where the challenges were skyrocketing.
“The event is intended to build effective rapport between adolescents and health facility staff, so that young people can seek services without fear of judgement. When they know each other well, adolescents can easily walk in knowing that health professionals are youth-friendly, keep confidentiality and privacy, and are not judgmental,” he said.
He noted that several adolescents ended up with teenage pregnancies or STIs because of inadequate or wrong reproductive health information obtained outside formal facilities and explained that although the Youth Open Day targeted about 50 adolescents, it attracted a higher number of participants, which reflected the large youth population and the high demand for such accurate information.
Mr Makam said that young people formed a greater part of the country’s population and exploiting them in terms of their reproductive health would endanger their future goals and aspirations.
He also warned that failure to equip adolescents with proper education and skills would adversely affect families, communities and the national economy, cautioning individuals who exploited them for illicit sex or prostitution, to take note that the long-term consequences far outweigh any immediate economic benefit.
He said such practices exposed young people to STIs, teenage pregnancy and other health complications that ultimately burdened families, society and the nation’s health resources, adding that, “Whatever we do to the youth today is going to tell the future of our families, our communities and we need to handle them with care.”
Mr Makam explained that in addition to facility-based services, the project had introduced digital channels for young people who remained shy about seeking help in person, with two toll-free lines such as; the Yenkasa Contact Centre (0800 202 010) based at the PPAG’s head office in Accra, and the Orange Support Centre (0800 111 222) operated by the UNFPA.
Individual callers could report gender-based violence, seek menstrual health or family planning information, and receive counselling, medical support, psychosocial therapy, nutritional assistance and emergency shelter where necessary with agents, being ready to ensure thorough investigation and provide the necessary support, including medical expenses for survivors of defilement and linkage to clinical psychologists.
The Adolescent Girls Empowerment Project is working to reduce teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and other reproductive health challenges by ensuring young people receive accurate information from trained professionals.
Ghana News Agency also gathered that all the health facilities in the five districts were being oriented to provide non-judgmental, confidential and youth-friendly services to allow adolescents to meet facility staff face-to-face so that mutual trust is established.
The organisers of the programme said the project had implemented numerous activities across the region in the fourth quarter of last year alone, with over 40 activities already carried out, and that the current Youth Open Day was one component of a broader package aimed at making health facilities more accessible and welcoming to young people.
It combines facility familiarisation with digital options so that no adolescent is left without a safe channel for information and care.
Students of the Anlo-Afiadenyigba SHS Wahab Salamatu, Nkrumah Grace, among others who participated in the activity embraced the initiative and thanked the organisers for their timely and kind gesture to transform and give girls better living conditions.
GNA
Edited by Maxwell Awumah / Christabel Addo