Reproductive health education addresses teenage pregnancy - ARHR

Madam Vicky T. Okine, the Executive Director, Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR) has said a comprehensive reproductive health education for adolescents will help ameliorate teenage pregnancy and other health diseases.

She said providing girls access to reproductive health information and services empower them to prevent sexual and gender-based violence, HIV/AIDS and sexual transmitted diseases.

Madam Okine stated this at the launch of the Adolescent Health Empowerment Project in Accra which was organized in collaboration with the French Embassy and the Ashiedu Keteke Sub Metro.

The project will complement government's effort in curbing the spread of COVID-19 by expanding access to accurate information, building community support for sustainable fight of the virus through innovative and evidence-based community engagement strategies.

The objective of the project among others is to intensify community education to ensure prevention and spread of the virus among communities, targeting the underserved, poor and children residing in Ashiedu Keteke Sub Mero.

According to her, there was an increase in community spread of COVID-19, applauding government's efforts to mitigate the spread.

She said reports, however, suggested that there were low and inadequate information and knowledge on the virus among the community that needed attention.

She said the ARHR had over the years played a crucial role in community capacity building including; community mobilization and engagement using information education and communication strategies to improve public health of individuals.

"Some of the strategies included; working with the Municipal Health Directorate COVID-19 emergency taskforce to undertake community education and provide handwashing basins and sinks in densely populated communities, market squares and transport stations," she added.

Madam Okine said the project was expected to contain the spread of COVID-19 and eventually limit its impact on social and economic life.

Dr Amoo Mensah, Medical Director, Usher Polyclinic said the clinic had created a unit to see to the sexual needs of adolescents and encouraged the youth in the community to visit it for any health assistance.

He advised all to observe the health protocols as directed by the World Health Organisation and the Ghana Health Service to contain its spread.

Mrs Anne Sophie Ave, the French Ambassador to Ghana said their support was to assist the project to improve the health of the adolescents in vulnerable communities.

"We are also supporting such initiatives in France and we hope the impact will positively improve the expected outcome," she said.