National Stakeholders’ Consultation On Reproductive Health Education Held In Sunyani
Policy makers, advocates, health practitioners, religious leaders, traditional leaders, parents, teachers and young people have been implored to help nib Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) challenges in the bud. This call follows the affirmation that SRHR challenges, ranging from unintended pregnancies, child marriage, STIs, gender based and sexual violence among others impede the general development and wellbeing of adolescents. These were resolutions of various speakers at the just ended national stakeholders’ consultative meeting on Reproductive Health Education (RHE) for young people in Ghana held in Sunyani.
Deputy Chief Executive Officer for the National Youth Authority (NYA) Nelson Owusu Ansah, opening the forum on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority, challenged stakeholders to commit to adolescent SRHR issues with all urgency to help secure their development, health and well-being. He indicated that the forum represented a broader stakeholder engagement process by the Authority, to solicit ideas and inputs from all sectors of the Ghanaian society, towards the development of a nationally acceptable guideline for RHE for young people in Ghana.
Director of Programmes and Service Delivery at the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG), Mr Emmanuel Okanta Akoto, in an address on behalf of the Executive Director noted that, at the core of equipping the youth with knowledge on SRHR must be a nationally acceptable guideline that enables access to age appropriate, culturally sensitive and scientifically accurate reproductive health information and education with improved channels of linkages to services.
In an address by the West Africa Health Organization (WAHO), the organization that supported the forum, it reaffirmed its resolve to ensure an enhanced preventive health management system for Ghana and the West African Sub-region. The WAHO focal person at PPAG and Director of Finance, Mr. Emil Adzasu, noted that, equipping young people with the needed SRHR will lay the critical foundation for Ghana’s future and growth.
Read the full presentation on the event below:
