Prioritise adolescent reproductive health - Advocates call
Advocates for youth reproductive health have called on the government to prioritise adolescent reproductive health to safeguard the sustainable development of the country.
They said placing value on the youth and their reproductive health would not only curb the high incidence of teenage pregnancy and other diseases that threaten the youth, but also help them make informed choices to be more productive socially and economically.
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Speaking at the third national adolescent reproductive health summit in Accra, a public health specialist, Dr Divine Kojo Atupra, the Chairman of the United Nations Youth Group, Mr Niyi Ojuolape, and the Executive Director of the National Population Council, Dr Leticia Adelaide Appiah, all emphasised the need to pay attention to the youth and their reproductive health now, as a guarantee for a safe future.
The summit
The two-day summit is being organised by the National Population Council and Marie Stopes Ghana, in collaboration with some state and society partners.
On the theme “Road to SDGs: Advancing priorities in adolescent reproductive health for the next decade,” the summit is being attended by stakeholders in the reproductive health and youth development as well as a number of youth groups and students.
It will provide a platform for sharing knowledge and lessons on the implementation of the adolescent sexual reproductive health rights across the country, especially in the midst of the COVID-19, to help improve policy, programmes and advocacy.
The summit is also to explore sustainable financing for adolescent sexual reproductive health rights.
Investment, challenges
Dr Atupra said prioritising adolescent reproductive health should include channelling investment towards increasing access to comprehensive safe adolescent reproductive health services.
The provision of adolescent reproductive health services, he explained, was crucial for ensuring health, creating prosperity and fulfilling human rights of the youth who were the future of the country.
He said adolescents should be involved more meaningfully in national and local actions intended to meet their needs and respond to their problems.
Involving the youth in the planning, development and implementation of policies that affect them, the public health specialist intimated, leads to ownership of such policies and programmes.
He said oftentimes, the youth were not involved in the framing of such policies, which invariably, did not fully meet their challenges.
He mentioned some of the challenges the youth faced to include lack of access to health care, joblessness and lack of self-esteem, which had been reinforced in recent times following the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also called for increased education on safe menstrual health and the provision of menstrual materials to girls.
Teen pregnancy, the youth pandemic
Mr Ojuolape, who doubles as the UNFPA country representative to Ghana, said Ghana was experiencing another pandemic in the form of teen pregnancy which was disturbing.
He also said apart from the negative health implications of teenage pregnancy, teenagers who became pregnant were confronted with physical and emotional challenges such as societal stigma, dropping out of school or delayed completion of their education.
“As if that is not enough, they may face health implications leading to poor maternal and child health and deaths. Many contract Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) including HIV, and a protracted vicious circle of poverty, especially among women,” he said.
The UNFPA country representative, thus, called for drastic measures to address teen pregnancy before it got out of control.
“Once the girls had not attained the acceptable ages of consent for sexual intercourse or marriage as permitted by the laws of the country, any such engagement with them was considered as rape and the prescribed punishment should be applied to offenders without compassion to curb the menace,” he stressed.
Vaccine against poverty
Dr Appiah said prioritising reproductive health, family planning and education would serve as a social vaccine against poverty which was a barrier against sustainable development.
She said over the years there had been substantial investment in child survival resulting in impressive declines in childhood mortality; however, response to the pressing needs of adolescents had been slow.
Investing in adolescent health, Dr Appiah further intimated, would help prevent the estimated deaths due to violence and pregnancy-related causes, among others, and also improve the health and wellbeing of many adolescents.